Pubdate: Wed, 01 Oct 2014
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2014 Associated Press
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Sadie Gurman, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

COLORADO COURT MULLS LEGALITY OF FIRING FOR POT USE OFF JOB

DENVER (AP) - Marijuana may be legal in Colorado, but you can still 
be fired for using it.

Now, the state's highest court is considering whether workers' 
off-duty use of medical marijuana is protected under state law.

Colorado's Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in a case 
involving Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic medical marijuana patient who 
was fired by the Dish Network after failing a drug test in 2010.

Coats said he never got high at work. But marijuana's intoxicating 
chemical, THC, can stay in the system for weeks.

Coats says his marijuana smoking is allowed under a little-known 
state law intended to protect employees from being fired for legal 
activities off the clock. But the company argues that because the 
drug remains illegal at the federal level, medical marijuana isn't 
covered by the state law.

The case could have big implications for marijuana smokers in the 
first state to legalize recreational sales. The court's decision 
could also affect how companies treat employees who use it recreationally.

Tuesday's arguments highlighted the clash between state laws and 
employers' drug-free policies that will not tolerate it.

"This case need not be an endorsement or an indictment of medical 
marijuana" but a chance to set standards for employee conduct, Dish 
attorney Meghan Martinez told the justices, who could rule in the 
coming weeks or months.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom