How Health Care Employers Deal with Medical Marijuana Use Implicates Legal and Philosophical Questions

Partner James Shore authored an article in the General Counsel Agenda issue of The Advisory Board Company’s Health Care Law Roundtable titled “What’s the Buzz on Medical Marijuana and the Workplace?” The article discusses the legal and philosophical questions health care employers must confront in dealing with the continuing evolution of legislation and societal attitudes concerning the use of marijuana, in particular for medical purposes.

Shore points out that efforts to regulate, decriminalize or legalize marijuana use - as has happened in Washington State and Colorado - or to broaden medical marijuana users’ workplace rights, run counter to federal law, under which marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act and still illegal. Additionally, most states do not protect users of medical marijuana from adverse hiring decisions or disciplinary decisions based on an employer’s drug testing policy, a stance that has uniformly been backed up by the courts.

"What’s the Buzz on Medical Marijuana and the Workplace?" was published in The Advisory Board Company's Health Care Law Roundtable, September 2014.