Legalization of medical and recreational marijuana use continues to spread across the United States despite the drug remaining a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law. This comes as respondents to Ogletree Deakins’ recent survey report, Strategies and Benchmarks for the Workplace: Ogletree’s Survey of Key Decision-Makers, indicated that keeping up with marijuana laws is already one of the most challenging areas of multi-jurisdictional compliance for employers.
As marijuana legalization continues to expand, and employers struggle with this challenging topic in managing their workplaces, three recent developments are representative of the future challenges that employers may face as this area of the law continues to develop.
Medical Marijuana Expands In the South
While most states have legalized at least medical marijuana, several, traditionally more politically conservative, states across the Southeast and parts of the Midwest have been slower to act. That is beginning to change. In February 2022, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act to become the 37th state to legalize medical marijuana. The act authorizes the use of marijuana by those suffering from an enumerated list of 20 medical conditions, including cancer, Crohn’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and any “chronic, terminal, or debilitating” condition.
Yet unlike many other state medical marijuana laws, Mississippi’s law does not provide direct, express...
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