Pubdate: Mon, 30 Jan 2017
Source: Beacon Herald, The (CN ON)
Copyright: 2017 Osprey Media Group Inc.
Contact: http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/letters
Website: http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1459
Author: Brian Cross
Page: A4

WORKPLACE BAN ON MEDICAL POT FRUSTRATES WORKER

WINDSOR - Joshua Jacquot says his employer won't allow him, during
working hours, to take the medication he needs to cope with depression
and anxiety because that medication is medical marijuana.

It's doctor-prescribed and legal, and according to the 23-year-old
assembly line worker, "it seems to be the only thing that works."

But he said when he informed Ventra Assembly several months ago he
wanted to take it at work, he was told, "no," to use regular
prescribed drugs instead. Jacquot said he's already tried them and
they don't help. He went off on sick leave in November, he said, and
continues to fight, because he can't use the medication he needs at
work.

"I'm frustrated, I'm angry, I'm upset," he said, insisting that if
he's allowed to use his weed, he won't be high on the job.

He'd use a strain of medical marijuana with low levels of THC, the
"psychoactive" compound in marijuana, and high levels of CBD,
marijuana's other active compound. And to comply with no-smoking
legislation, he would take capsules or cannabis oil.

"They would allow me to have Percocets or fentanyl (prescription
opioids) at work, but they're not going to allow me to have medical
marijuana with high CBD," Jacquot said.

"I'm not saying I want to smoke weed every five minutes, but I need it
to deal with my depression. I want to be able to use it."

Officials from the Lauzon Parkway company declined to comment on
claims by Jacquot, who said he only began working there last year.

For several years before that, he smoked weed recreationally and
learned how much it helped with his depression and anxiety, he said.

His family doctor prescribed him medical marijuana last fall. Jacquot
decided to "do the right thing" and tell his employer he would be
taking it, he said, instead of keeping things discreet.

Jacquot said he's mulling making a complaint to the Human Rights
Tribunal of Ontario. A spokesperson for the Human Rights Legal Support
Centre, Jennifer Ramsay, said there's been an increasing number of
cases like Jacquot's coming to human rights tribunals across the
country as the use of medical marijuana becomes increasingly
mainstream.
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MAP posted-by: Matt