{"id":7626,"date":"2017-08-02T16:39:40","date_gmt":"2017-08-02T16:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=6405"},"modified":"2017-08-02T16:39:40","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T16:39:40","slug":"uk-the-hazy-issue-of-weed-and-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/uk-the-hazy-issue-of-weed-and-work\/","title":{"rendered":"UK: The Hazy Issue Of Weed And Work"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/uk-the-hazy-issue-of-weed-and-work\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>More people are smoking weed these days, sparking a haze of complications and confusion in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p>A growing number of states in the US \u2013 and countries around the world \u2013 are legalising or decriminalising recreational and medical marijuana, forcing businesses to grapple with how to deal with employees who use the drug and could come to work still feeling its mind-altering effects.<\/p>\n<p>But unlike alcohol or many other drugs, marijuana stays in a person\u2019s system for weeks or months after usage, which creates a tricky situation for workplace drug tests. It\u2019s entirely possible that employees could use marijuana in their personal time in a state or country where it\u2019s entirely legal to do so \u2013 and be fired for testing positive on a drug test when they\u2019re back at work days or weeks later.<\/p>\n<p>The proliferation of different, sometimes conflicting laws and policies on marijuana use is especially vexing for companies operating across the globe \u2013 or even just in multiple states within the US.<\/p>\n<p>In the US, marijuana is illegal under federal law, but 30 states and the District of Columbia have legalised it for medical or recreational purposes. More than 20% of American adults use marijuana and 14% do so regularly, according to a survey this year by Yahoo News and Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. And marijuana use is expected to jump significantly over the next few years in North America. Voters in California, by far the largest state with nearly 40 million residents, legalised recreational marijuana last November. Meanwhile, Canada is poised to legalise cannabis for recreational purposes next year. (Both California and Canada long ago legalised the drug for medical treatment.)<\/p>\n<p>Marijuana use, however, is still illegal in many countries, including the UK, France, Ireland, Indonesia, China, Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. But personal use in varying quantities has been decriminalised in such countries as Italy, Mexico, Argentina, Austria, Chile, Colombia, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, while medical use of the drug is legal in many countries, including Australia, the Czech Republic, Germany and Turkey. Uruguay became the first country to fully legalize the production and sale of recreational marijuana. Pharmacies began selling the drug there this month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou almost need counsel in each country you operate in so that you set up a workplace drug policy that won\u2019t violate that country\u2019s laws,\u201d says Tony Fiore, a lawyer at Kegler Brown Hill &amp; Ritter in Ohio.<\/p>\n<p><b>Patchwork laws<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Some US laws and court rulings permit companies to arbitrarily fire employees who test positive for marijuana in states where it\u2019s now legal. For example, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that employers can fire workers who test positive for cannabis even when they\u2019re using if for medical reasons. Because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the court upheld the firing of Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic telephone customer service representative at Dish Network who was using the drug to treat painful muscle spasms and tested positive in a random test.<\/p>\n<p>According to court records, he wasn\u2019t accused of being under the influence or impaired at work, and he said he never used weed while in the office. Coats had worked at Dish for three years and received satisfactory performance reviews before his termination in 2010. He didn\u2019t perform any hazardous activities at work and never requested accommodations for his medical marijuana use.<\/p>\n<p>Other US states have enacted laws that require employers to try to make accommodations for people using weed to alleviate pain or for other health reasons \u2013 as long as the drug doesn\u2019t affect their performance in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p>Drug testing practices and laws vary widely across the globe. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction reports that only Finland, Ireland and Norway have legislation specifically addressing drug testing in the workplace. In Norway, for example, drug testing is considered a violation of the personal integrity of an employee or job applicant and should be conducted only when strictly necessary, such as to protect the safety of the worker or other people.<\/p>\n<p>Canadian employers generally have much less freedom to conduct drug tests than US businesses. \u201cPre-employment testing isn\u2019t typically allowed and most employers can\u2019t do random testing either,\u201d says Darryl Hiscocks, labor and employment lawyer at Torys LLP in Toronto. \u201cEmployers often feel caught in the middle. They have to meet their health and safety obligations such as with workers who may drive a vehicle, but they also have to accommodate medical marijuana users and employees addicted to marijuana, which can be considered a disability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He believes that businesses should ask employees to inform their managers if they are using marijuana to treat a health problem and provide their prescription. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of balancing employee privacy interests and human rights with workplace health and safety concerns,\u201d Hiscocks says.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the patchwork of laws, employees who rely on marijuana for health reasons or are regular recreational users may face limited career prospects. \u201cTheir opportunity to move may be eliminated if they\u2019re authorised to use medical marijuana in one state, but it isn\u2019t allowed in another state or country,\u201d Fiore says. \u201cIt also would hurt the employers, who couldn\u2019t transfer some workers and their needed skills overseas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>Complex and changing issue<\/b><\/p>\n<p>There are no statistics on how many people have been fired \u2013 or not hired \u2013 because of testing positive for marijuana use, but there\u2019s no question that it is happening. \u201cMarijuana in the workplace is a complex issue that will only require greater attention from employers as more states and countries decriminalise it,\u201d says Todd Simo, chief medical officer at California-based HireRight, which provides background-screening services to businesses. \u201cA positive marijuana screen is now a yellow light, not a red light as in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marijuana use usually isn\u2019t permitted in jobs that could pose safety risks, such as driving a bus or operating heavy machinery. What\u2019s more, businesses with US government contracts are supposed to follow federal law and fire or refuse to hire people who test positive for marijuana and other drugs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe situation with marijuana is changing almost weekly,\u201d says Sarah Sullivan, risk control services coordinator at Lockton, a Missouri-based insurance broker and professional services firm. \u201cThe important thing is to protect yourself with a workplace policy that explicitly says whether you will or won\u2019t be testing people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite growing decriminalisation, many employers have failed to create a marijuana policy, let alone tailor it to different states and countries. Slightly more than half of respondents said they don\u2019t have a policy, according to a 2016 HireRight study in the US. Nearly 40% said they don\u2019t accommodate employees who use marijuana and have no plans to do so, while 5% said they do have a policy to accommodate marijuana use, and 5% said they may make accommodations within the next year.<\/p>\n<p>Talent shortages are prompting some employers to skip pre-employment and random drug testing. Simo of HireRight notes that some Silicon Valley companies typically don\u2019t screen for drugs because they know they would lose a large number of qualified applicants if they did. \u201cBut deciding whether to test is a delicate balance, especially in safety-conscious industries,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>In Colorado, which legalised recreational marijuana in 2012, some employers have begun to relax their drug testing policies. About 3% of employers surveyed recently by the Mountain States Employers Council said they have eliminated all marijuana testing, while 7% stopped pre-employment testing but retain it for other situations, such as reasonable suspicion of cannabis use.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a spike in drug testing across the board in 2014 after marijuana started being sold, because employers feared their workforce was going to be impaired or have diminished capacity because of reefer madness,\u201d says Curtis Graves, information resource manager at the Mountain States Employers Council. \u201cTwo years later, however, that wasn\u2019t borne out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With lower unemployment rates in the US now, \u201csome employers have to put up with marijuana use away from the workplace or risk not filling positions,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n<p>To avoid losing valuable talent, some human-resource consultants suggest that companies consider giving workers a second chance if they test positive for marijuana, namely that they agree to another test within the next year and realize they will be fired if the result is positive again.<\/p>\n<p>While businesses may forgo pre-employment and random marijuana screening, many of them will still test people who show signs of impairment or reduced productivity. In such cases, some states require employers to provide proof of erratic behavior, such as changes in speech or problems with dexterity, as well as a downward trend in performance.<\/p>\n<p>But a workplace accident or deterioration in performance could be unrelated to marijuana, despite a positive test result. Marijuana is commonly screened-for a byproduct, the inert metabolite carboxy-THC, which may be detectable for weeks or even months after a person has stopped using.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the potential for error and the fact that a positive test result isn\u2019t indicative of either impairment or recent drug ingestion, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws finds urine, blood and oral fluid tests discriminatory and a violation of an individual\u2019s rights. It recommends performance impairment testing rather than bodily fluid screens. For example, NORML says, an app called My Canary can detect performance changes by assessing a person\u2019s memory, reaction time and balance.<\/p>\n<p>Most employers are reluctant to publicly discuss their drug testing policies. Jeff Hanle, a spokesman for Aspen Skiing Co., did say that the company has maintained the same policy since marijuana was legalised in Colorado: random pre-employment testing and required testing after a ski crash, slips on ice and other accidents.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly all new hires in the US at CenturyLink, a Louisiana-based IT services firm, are subject to drug screens. In addition, the company conducts \u201creasonable suspicion testing of employees who appear to be impaired and random testing of those covered by US Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration rules,\u201d Mark Molzen, a spokesman, says.<\/p>\n<p>Multinational companies approached for comment declined interview requests. \u201cIt\u2019s a perception thing,\u201d Graves says. \u201cNo one wants to be perceived as soft on drugs. Companies fear that if they publicly say they have relaxed drug testing, it makes them open to legal liability when an accident happens and the employee involved tests positive for marijuana, even if it was used weeks before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/uk-the-hazy-issue-of-weed-and-work.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>News Moderator: Ron Strider <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a><br \/>\nFull Article: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/capital\/story\/20170725-the-hazy-issue-of-weed-and-work\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BBC &#8211; Capital &#8211; The hazy issue of weed and work<\/a><br \/>\nAuthor: Ronald Alsop<br \/>\nContact: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/contact\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/contact<\/a><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: Getty Images<br \/>\nWebsite: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BBC &#8211; Homepage<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More people are smoking weed these days, sparking a haze of complications and confusion in the workplace.<br \/>\nA growing number&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/2017\/07\/uk-hazy-issue-weed-work\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1616,9,1,3],"tags":[4184],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7626"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}