An Oregon Supreme Court ruling Thursday morning dealt a major blow to supporters of medical marijuana, giving employers broad powers to dismiss employees who smoke marijuana for personal use, even if those employees are medical marijuana cardholders.

The ruling, “Emerald Steel Fabricators Inc. v. Bureau of Labor and Industries of the state of Oregon,” has state officials scrambling to prepare a response, which some employment attorneys say could dramatically alter the state’s medical marijuana landscape.
“No matter what Oregon says in creating this medical marijuana program, this case is essentially saying that if the federal government wants to come in and bust users of medical marijuana, there’s nothing the state can do about it,” said Portland employment attorney Richard Meneghello.
Since Oregon voters passed a ballot measure instituting medical marijuana twelve years ago, employers and workers have had no clear legal direction on the responsibility of employers to accommodate cardholders.
Thursday’s ruling eliminates that uncertainty.
State Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian said the ruling “seriously undercuts the law that Oregonians put in place, by initiative petition, in 1998.”
“The immediate impact of the Supreme Court’s decision is to remove the employment protection that medical marijuana users had under Oregon’s disability law,” Avakian said in a statement released Thursday afternoon. “BOLI will no longer be able to enforce employment protection under state disability law for medical marijuana users.”
An Oregon Court of Appeals ruling issued Wednesday in the case of “State v. Berrringer” also hit medical marijuana programs. The court ruled that a California medical marijuana card was not valid in Oregon, allowing prosecution of a man who was stopped in Clackamas County while driving marijuana to a friend in Washington.
The National Federation of Independent Business’ Small-business Legal Center praised the Oregon Supreme Court ruling, saying it upheld the rights of employers to maintain drug-free workplaces.
“The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act permits registered patients to use marijuana free of the threat of criminal prosecution, but the act does not stand as a statutory trump card over every other statute and common law duty,” said Karen R. Harned, the legal center’s executive director. “Employers have a duty to their employees, customers and the general public to provide a safe and drug-free workplace. Oregon employers should not be saddled with a competing duty to accommodate patients who use marijuana pursuant to the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act. The Oregon Supreme Court made the right decision to overturn the lower court’s decision and find in favor of an employer’s right to maintain a drug-free workplace.”
The federation filed a “friend of the court” brief supporting the employer in the legal fight.

Invalidate the program
The case involves Anthony Scevers, a drill press operator at Emerald Steel Fabricators in Eugene. Scevers was dismissed from his job after disclosing that he used medical marijuana and was a cardholder. He had been told he was doing satisfactory work.

Scevers filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, which eventually issued discrimination charges against Emerald Steel. The Oregon Court of Appeals agreed with the agency.
In reversing the Court of Appeals ruling Thursday, the Supreme Court basically said that federal drug laws trump state drug laws. Since medical marijuana is not recognized in federal law, and marijuana is considered an illegal drug by federal standards, employers can dismiss medical marijuana cardholders from jobs.
The ruling appears to exempt medical marijuana growers and caregivers, but makes clear that cardholders using medical marijuana are still breaking federal law, says Paula A. Barran, a Portland employment attorney.
One key section of the Supreme Court ruling calls the Oregon medical marijuana law “not enforceable.” And that phrase has attorneys both inside and outside state government wondering how far the ruling can be applied.
“I believe a fair reading of that paragraph may very well invalidate the entire medical marijuana program,” Barran said.
The Oregon Attorney General’s office said it had no comment on the ruling. But others were more willing to speculate.

Link: https://www.portlandtribune.com/news/...35987597883000

[Tony Aroma]

Some of the commenters on the original article had a simple solution: Get a prescription for Marinol and never fill it. If you test positive for THC, show them your prescription for an FDA-approved drug. Tests can't distinguish between synthetic and natural THC. If the feds want to play games having one form of a drug classified as a schedule 3 substance, but that very same drug in another form a schedule 1 substance, let them sort it out. Sounds like this is a non-issue.

[PoopyTeaBags]

then they shouldnt be able to take opiates or anything else given by big pharma and go to work.... Bullshit....

yea, my assitant manager straight up said in front of customers, I need to go get my script filled, I cant work unless im heavily medicated. She takes zanex and hydrocodon.

[teddybud]

thats lame man.. go figure the man will always find a to try and hold us down.. REBEL!

Man that sucks Sorry to hear this news.

[inphu510n]

Employment in Oregon is "at will" which means employers can fire you for no reason and you can quit for no reason. Sure people have taken things to court to argue that they were wrongfully fired but employers have this shield (and rightfully so).

See Here.

So, So, SO LAME of the OR Supreme Court to include that verbiage. Such a careless wording. Invalidating the OR MMJ program would be a MASSIVE setback to the legalization movement. If one state decides to fold because of federal jurisdiction (which MMJ states have been bucking) then the rest of the MMJ states have a big liability on their hands. This case would possibly set precedent in which the other MMJ states will have to take into consideration. UGH. What a moron to take this to court. Doesn't anyone else here understand that the Fed considers MJ illegal in any circumstance and that the Fed trumps state law??? If ALL of us don't THINK and play our cards right we'll screw off any chance we have of full legalization in this country. We can't pretend that it's legalized. Currently MJ is simply allowed in certain circumstances.

I currently live in San Diego which for some ungodly reason was the only city in the entire state to try bar MMJ cards/clinics from existing in it's borders. They took it to the CA Supreme Court who promptly told them to sit back down and stop being such a whiny bunch of pricks. It's completely fascinating to me that OR, an almost equally politically balanced state decided to roll over on this one. Soooo disheartening.

tony aroma speaks the truth. say marinol!!!!

[the_red_bull]

Isn't anyone going to say how this IS discrimination and it is illegal. If those people aren't doing anything illegal in their use of cannabis, and they're not if they're medical users, and they're being dismissed from work for reasons unrelated to their job performance it is unlawful termination. DAMMIT do something about this.

[Hammerhead]

thats bad news. I hope it gets sorted out.