Employers and Medical Marijuana

Employers should follow the lead of the federal Veteran's Administration.

This month the VA announced that it will draw a "clear distinction between the use of illegal drugs and legal medical marijuana."

The VA will not penalize medical marijuana patients who are treating validly under their states' laws.

Similarly, employers should revise their workplace drug policies to make a clear distinction between the use of legal medical marijuana and illegal drugs with no legitimate medical purposes. They should distinguish between treatments and abuse.

Some managers are being forced by corporate headquarters to fire workers who treat at home with medical marijuana, when they know that these workers have been stellar performers with absolutely no problems at work.

Employers are losing valuable employees because of their outdated "zero tolerance" drug policies that fail to account for legitimate medical treatments.

These unenlightened policies are based on false information from outdated stereotypes of medical marijuana that ignored the scientific proof that marijuana is safe and beneficial and treats a multitude of illnesses and pain.

Recent studies confirm that marijuana is a safer alternative to some of the pharmaceuticals that produce horrific side effects, often far worse than the original disease. Yet some employers are stuck in the old mentality that falsely lumped medical marijuana in with narcotics as an unsafe treatment, or worse yet, just a drug to be abused.

It is unethical to deprive patients of very beneficial medical treatments based on the fear of abuse. Any drug can be abused. Would it be logical to deprive people of prescription medications since they can be abused? Would it be right to deprive them of their jobs?

Employers can step up now and follow the lead of the VA in recognizing the difference between state-sanctioned medical marijuana treatments and illicit drugs. State-sanctioned medical marijuana should be treated as other medical treatments, and should not be used to deprive good workers of their livelihoods.

Veterans Administration Recognizes Legal Medical Marijuana

The federal Veteran's Administration will not penalize Veterans for using medical marijuana by depriving them of other necessary medicines, according to a July letter issued by the US Department of Veteran Affairs Under Secretary for Health Robert Petzel, M.D.

Testing positive for marijuana would not preclude a Veteran from receiving other medications for pain management in a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facility, if a Veteran obtains and uses medical marijuana in a manner consistent with state law.

The authorized use of medical marijuana should not be defined as "illegal drug use," according to the VA Under Secretary.

"Standard pain management agreements should draw a clear distinction between the use of illegal drugs, and legal medical marijuana," says Under Secretary Pelzel.

The VA further instructs that the individual health care provider retains the discretion to prescribe, or not prescribe, opioids in conjunction with medical marijuana. The health care provider has the authority to determine the medications on clinical grounds.

The Veteran would need to inform his provider of the use of medical marijuana, and of any other non-VA prescribed medications he or she is taking to ensure that all medications, including opioids, are prescribed in a safe manner, according to Under Secretary Dr. Pelzel.

The provider will take the use of medical marijuana into account in all prescribing decisions, just as the provider would for any other medication, according to the VA.

"This is a case-by-case decision, based upon the provider's judgment, and the needs of the patient."

The VA is right - medical marijuana patients should not be treated as criminals, nor should they be deprived of their medically necessary treatments.

This guidance is important because it reaffirms that at least one administration within the federal government recognizes that medical marijuana, when used validly under state law, is a medical decision best left to the physician and the patient and should not be treated as a criminal matter. It is a health care decision.