From the moment the Mississippi Legislature passed a law to create a medical marijuana program in January, it was inevitable that litigation would follow.
While medical marijuana won’t even be available in the state until near the end of the year, the Lowndes County School District may be first in line when a qualified medical marijuana patient is fired or denied employment based on that fact alone.
The LCSD Board of Trustees is expected to vote on new language regarding the use of medical marijuana in July when it approves its handbook. The proposed language forbids use or possession of medical marijuana on campus – which is obviously reasonable – but goes much further than that.
The policy states the district can “refuse to hire, discharge, discipline, or otherwise take an adverse employment action against an individual with respect to hiring, discharging, tenure, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment as a result, in whole or in part, of that individual’s use of medical cannabis, regardless of the individual’s impairment or lack of impairment resulting from the use of medical cannabis.”
And that’s likely where the trouble will begin.
Medical marijuana has been available in some states for 20 years and over that time there have been cases where an employee has been fired for using medical marijuana. Lawsuits by fired employees filed in federal court have been universally rejected because marijuana is an illegal drug at the federal level even though the language...
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