Drug overdose deaths topped 100,000 during the pandemic, leading the National Safety Council (NSC) to turn this statistic into an “aggressive wake-up call” to motivate employers to take action for the health and safety of their workers. The NSC identified the employer’s role as a universal gap in addressing misuse of drugs, with 75% of […]
Knowing what to do to ensure workers aren’t in danger from someone’s impairment due to marijuana use has become more complicated as states pass their own laws without uniformity. Here is some of the latest information on the situation to turn “complicated” into “manageable.” Recreational marijuana is now legal in 17 states and Washington, DC. […]
Employer drug testing for marijuana use in New York is no longer permitted under most circumstances, according to new guidance from the state. The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) has taken effect, legalizing recreational marijuana use and possession for adults who are 21 and older, effective March 31, 2021. It also amended the state’s legal […]
Amazon – at the same time the second-largest private employer in the U.S. and a company struggling with high injury rates – will no longer be screening its workers for marijuana use. The company announced June 1 that it’s adjusting its drug-testing policy in the U.S. and will now treat marijuana the same as alcohol. “In […]
Drug-testing company Quest Diagnostics says the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t cause a decrease in marijuana use in the general (non-safety-sensitive) U.S. workforce. In its analysis of more than seven million urine tests in 2020, Quest says the overall positive rate for marijuana in the total U.S. workforce was down only slightly – 4.4% compared to 4.5% in […]
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed bill S854 into law March 31, giving injured workers who use medical marijuana the same protections as those using regular prescription drugs. The bill removes cannabis from the state’s list of controlled substances, gives injured workers who use the drug protections that weren’t included in the state’s 2014 Compassionate […]
Medical weed use and its effect on the workplace continues to be a big safety issue with a changing landscape. So far, medically prescribed weed is approved in 36 states. In addition, 15 states and Washington, DC, have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Other states may put the issue in their voters’ hands. However, at […]
A workers’ compensation insurer is not committing a federal crime under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) when reimbursing a medical weed user for purchase of the drug, according to the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. Reimbursing a medical marijuana user for the drug in a work-related injury case is not impossible under the CSA nor […]
A Pennsylvania judge ruled Nov. 10 that an employee’s off-duty use of medical marijuana doesn’t qualify as a “disability” under the state’s Human Relations Act (PHRA). Pamela Palmiter, a certified medical marijuana user, worked at Moses Taylor Hospital and was fired in January 2019 after a positive drug test for marijuana. Palmiter filed two lawsuits […]
