Pubdate: Sun, 10 Nov 2013
Source: Maine Sunday Telegram (ME)
Copyright: MaineToday Media, Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/J9R991Zc
Website: http://www.pressherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/256
Author: J. Craig Anderson

FEDERAL, STATE LAWS ENSURE LITTLE CHANGE FOR MARIJUANA USERS

It's Highly Unlikely That Employers, Landlords, Hotels and Businesses 
in Portland Will Permit Pot Smoking.

Portland may have become the first city on the East Coast to legalize 
recreational marijuana use, but residents who think this means they 
can light up, even in the privacy of their home, might need to think twice.

Employers will still be able to forbid their employees to use 
marijuana, and if that employer receives any federal funding, it is 
expressly prohibited from allowing any employees to use the drug.

Landlords will still be free to prohibit smoking in any apartments they rent.

And hotels say they aren't planning to allow guests to smoke 
marijuana, even in rooms where cigarette smoking is allowed.

Because recreational marijuana still remains illegal at the state and 
federal levels, it's unlikely that businesses and other organizations 
will start allowing employees, tenants or customers to smoke 
marijuana without consequence, and will be wary of amending any 
existing policy to accommodate marijuana use.

"I can't see any of those things changing at all as a result of this 
vote," said Christopher Hall, CEO of the Portland Regional Chamber.

In addition to state and federal prohibitions, he said, businesses in 
Portland have to consider workplace safety and insurance-related 
issues that could arise from allowing workers, tenants, hotel guests 
or customers to use marijuana.

"Many employers have a workplace drug policy that is principally 
related to safety," Hall said.

Similarly, owners of apartment properties in Portland rarely, if 
ever, allow tenants to smoke any substance inside the building, he said.

The primary reason is that smoking tobacco, marijuana or anything 
else can cause a fire, Hall said.

"They don't want to burn the place down, so you can't smoke," he said.

Even in Colorado, where voters approved a statewide referendum in 
2012 to legalize adult marijuana use, businesses didn't change their 
policies to accommodate legalization, a Denver official said.

Prior to the state referendum, the city of Denver passed a citywide 
legalization ordinance in 2005.

Kelly Brough, president and chief executive officer of the Denver 
Metro Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber has worked to ensure that 
votes in Denver and statewide to legalize marijuana don't harm the 
business climate, primarily by successfully protecting a business's 
ability to maintain zero-tolerance drug policies for its employees.

Challenges in court to those policies have not been successful, she said.

"We prevailed. Our courts have reinforced that right," Brough said. 
"(Businesses) know that they're still in complete control over what 
their work environments are like."

Portland employers who responded to questions from the Maine Sunday 
Telegram about their policies said they have no plans to alter their 
employee policies banning marijuana use or stop drug testing even 
after Tuesday's vote, saying it's a question of safety.

"It's not going to change our policies," said a spokeswoman for 
plumbing materials distributor Redlon & Johnson who asked not to be 
named. "We have drivers, and we can't allow them to use drugs and alcohol."

Likewise, city of Portland Human Resources Director Mike Miles said 
the city's policies regarding marijuana use would not change.

"Employees are expected to show up for work unimpaired by substances, 
whether those substances are legal, like alcohol or legal 
prescription drugs, or illegal," Miles said. "The passage of the 
referendum does not change that expectation."

Any condition that impairs an employee's ability to work safely may 
be subject to disciplinary action, he said.

Commercial drivers and others who are subject to random drug 
screening will not be allowed to test positive for marijuana, Miles said.

"Certain occupations require as a matter of federal law that 
employees be tested randomly for substance use, and those 
expectations are unaffected by the referendum," he said.

The handful of Portland hotels that have smoking rooms, including 
Embassy Suites Portland, Hampton Inn Downtown Waterfront and La 
Quinta Inn & Suites, said they still do not permit guests to smoke marijuana.

Only one hotel, La Quinta, said it was seeking further guidance on 
the issue from its corporate owner.

"I think that probably their lawyer is going to remind them that 
state law pre-empts the local ordinance," Hall said. State law makes 
allowances only for medicinal marijuana.

Even if a recreational user tries to challenge his employer's 
drug-use policy, Maine's courts aren't likely to take his side, said 
Mark Dion, a Portland attorney, retired deputy police chief and 
former Cumberland County sheriff.

Dion said he recently represented a client in an insurance case in 
which the client's medicinal marijuana and growing equipment had been stolen.

The court ruled in favor of the insurance company, he said, which 
refused to reimburse Dion's client for the stolen items.

Dion said most employers follow drug-free workplace policies 
established by the state Office of Substance Abuse, which has helped 
to establish standardized drug-testing protocols.

"They're trying to ensure employers aren't creating policies 
willy-nilly," he said.

Portland attorney Philip Mancini noted that Maine's medical marijuana 
law does not require employers to accommodate an applicant or worker 
who plans to use marijuana while on the job. The law does prohibit 
discrimination against qualifying patients who use marijuana at home, he said.

Portland's recreational marijuana ordinance offers no such protections.

Also, no employer that relies even partly on the federal government 
in funding, licensing or contracts will allow employee marijuana use, 
even on the employee's own time, Mancini said. That would put the 
company afoul of federal law, which classifies marijuana as a 
Schedule 1 controlled substance, because it could put the company or 
organization's future in jeopardy.

Employers can invoke safety concerns as a reason to prohibit its use, 
Mancini said.

"You've got to remember this: Marijuana is still illegal under 
federal law," Mancini said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom