Pubdate: Thu, 23 Jul 2015
Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Vancouver 24 hrs.
Contact: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/letters
Website: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837
Author: Michael Mui
Page: 3

POT-SMOKING CANCER PATIENT LOSES TERMINATION CASE

Marijuana discovered after John French and a coworker struck a moose
while driving a truck

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has ruled against a man who claimed he
needed to smoke pot as a pain management-tool for cancer during his
employment with a logging company - he was fired for not agreeing to
come to work drug-free.

John French's complaint against his former employer, Selkin Logging
Ltd., was dismissed in a decision earlier this month. His ex-bosses
argued that, for months, French had been smoking marijuana at work
contrary to the law and workplace rules, and only offered the excuse
that he's a cancer survivor.

The tribunal found that French had no evidence he actually used the
marijuana for medical purposes, even though there was evidence his
cancer did recur for at least some time during his employment. French
didn't have a "marijuana card," nor any documentation that authorized
his possession or use of marijuana.

He argued his doctors were aware of his pot use for pain management,
and "they told him he could use it if it worked." He also argued that
his marijuana was of medical quality and didn't impede his work, even
though he smoked up to eight joints per day. Indeed, there was no
evidence his work was impaired, even when he was operating heavy
machinery. But there also wasn't any evidence that the pot was medical
grade.

French was finally confronted by his employer after months of
complaints from other employees-the catalyst was when French and a
coworker struck a moose while driving a truck and marijuana was found
inside the vehicle.

"Mr. French's smoking of marijuana at work, without legal
authorization and without medical authorization confirming that it is
safe for him to do so, was an accommodation which his employer could
not properly abet in the circumstances," the tribunal wrote.
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MAP posted-by: Matt