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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US OR: Agency Will Allow Off-Job Use Of Medical Marijuana
ccguide Wednesday 23 Feb 2000 Pubdate: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 Source: Oregonian, The (OR) Copyright: 2000 The Oregonian Contact: Address: 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201 Fax: 503-294-4193 Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/ Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/ Author: Matt Palmquist of The Oregonian staff AGENCY WILL ALLOW OFF-JOB USE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA The Tualatin Valley Water District's Decision To Rewrite Its Policy Reflects The Wide-Ranging Effect Of Oregon's Law If you smoke marijuana to ease your pain, you won't be fired from the Tualatin Valley Water District -- perhaps the first public agency in Oregon to let employees use medical marijuana. There are restrictions, of course. Employees who smoke must have a medical marijuana card, they can't smoke on the job, and the district's 30 employees with federally issued commercial driver's licenses can't toke at all, because federal law still regards marijuana as a controlled illegal drug. None of the water district's 85 employees uses medically prescribed marijuana, but its decision to rewrite its substance abuse policy is another sign that the medical marijuana law, passed by Oregon voters in November 1998, is forcing a wide range of people and businesses across the state to re-examine their attitudes toward the drug. The water district chose to act before a situation involving one of its employees arose. Other agencies, such as Multnomah County and the city of Portland, are taking a wait-and-see attitude. But the law already is raising questions for people such as Portland resident Larry Humphrey, who lost his job at a trucking company after he tested positive for marijuana he uses legally. The law permits people to use marijuana for a variety of conditions, not just terminal illnesses, including problems such as nausea that don't keep them from doing their work. However, under Oregon's law, employers can refuse to accommodate medical marijuana use by employees. Since May, the Health Division has issued more than 400 marijuana-use cards to patients suffering from extreme pain and debilitating diseases. And with the Health Division considering expanding the law to apply to conditions such as anxiety, depression and sleep disorders, employers will either have to define their stance on medical marijuana or fire a lot of disgruntled employees. The district, which pumps water to more than 160,000 people in unincorporated Washington County and portions of Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro and Tigard, may be the first public agency to put such a policy on paper, according to lawyers, activists and public officials across Oregon. The water district's board of commissioners voted unanimously last month to rewrite its substance abuse policy to bring it into line with the new state law. The district's human resources director suggested the district address the issue before an employee raised it. "We're just being proactive," said Greg DiLoreto, the water district's general manager. "All employers in Oregon will be faced with it. There's no precedent -- we're setting the standard here. If you step back from it being marijuana, all you're dealing with is a prescription drug, and employees will need to notify their supervisor if they're using it." Finding Job Proves Tricky Larry Humphrey would like to notify the water district he's looking for a job. A medical marijuana cardholder who smokes to relieve arthritic pain, Humphrey lost his delivery job with the trucking company, Link Logistics, in November after he tested positive for marijuana. "I'm lost," said Humphrey, who does not have a commercial driver's license and therefore does not fall under federal law. "I'm not sure how to make out a legal, trustful rsum -- nobody's going to hire me if I do. Do I go to other companies with a resume that says Link Logistics let me go because I'm a marijuana user? Are they going to hire me or the 10 other applicants?" Link Logistics -- a national corporation with operations in Portland - -- is proud of its drug-free policy, especially because it operates trucks that cross state lines, said a manager who asked not to be identified because legal action is pending on a labor complaint Humphrey filed with the state. Many companies qualify for significantly lower insurance rates if they enforce strict drug-free policies. "I'm not smoking now so I can go out and try to get employment," said Humphrey, who never told co-workers or his three adult children that he smokes pot. "I'm in Oregon and I have my legal rights, but I've been going without medication because I can't get employment. I'm in a lot of pain, and that's not fair." As more cards are issued -- and Kelly Paige, manager of the Health Division's medical marijuana program, said she expects to mail out another 200 by the end of April -- more employees will face Humphrey's predicament, and more businesses will have to act. Laws Difficult For Businesses The discrepancy between state and federal law has made businesses reluctant to rewrite their employee handbooks, said Paula A. Barran, a Portland lawyer who specializes in labor law. So instead of adopting policies, most businesses and governmental agencies -- including the state government, Multnomah County and the cities of Portland and Eugene -- have adopted wait-and-see attitudes, delaying a definitive decision until an employee begins using the drug. Larger public agencies, including the Port of Portland and the Unified Sewerage Agency, haven't rewritten their substance abuse policies, either. "Employers feel caught between responsibility to one set of legal requirements and the prohibitions of another set," said Judith L. Clark, president of H.R. Northwest, the largest human resources consulting firm in the Northwest. "It's great to be in Oregon, where we make new laws, but every once in a while it's just a tad bit challenging. We understand there's a law, but no one is quite sure what the boundaries of that law are." When crafting its policy, the water district weighed issues of liability and public safety against compassion for suffering employees, said Jim Duggan, chairman of the district's board of commissioners. "If an employee was using marijuana to relieve the pain of chemotherapy, how could we, in good conscience, fire that employee?" Duggan said. "We didn't want to get into the situation where an employee had a medical marijuana card and it conflicted with our existing policy. We felt like we had to craft something fair, but we didn't have a whole lot of examples." Medical marijuana activists said the water district came up with a good compromise, essentially applying the same rules to marijuana use that govern prescription drugs, and created a good model for other employees to heed. "That's a positive, reasonably enlightened take on it," said Keith Stroup, executive director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "It may not be a perfect solution, but it seems like a good-faith attempt to let the law work as passed by the Oregon voters. And it has even more impact in the sense that it's a public agency." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can reach Matt Palmquist at 503-294-5955 or by e-mail at - --- MAP posted-by: manemez j lovitto
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