“Suspicionless workplace drug testing policies for cannabis were never evidence-based and they have always been discriminatory. They are relics of the failed ‘war on drugs’ policies of the 1980s and it is time that we move beyond them.”
Category: Job Discrimination
Baltimore’s mayor, Brandon M. Scott, said: “[O]utdated and costly pre-employment drug and alcohol screenings only served to block qualified and passionate residents from obtaining employment with the City. … I am grateful that we are making this change now so that we can continue to improve local government operations and better serve the people of Baltimore.”
The revisions make it clear that the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act — passed in 1988 — remains in place, and that federal employees “are required to refrain” from the use of either cannabis or other federally controlled substances “whether on or off duty.” Employees who do not do so will face disciplinary action.
“Suspicionless marijuana testing never has been an evidence-based policy. Rather, these discriminatory practices are a holdover from the zeitgeist of the 1980s ‘war on drugs.’
In light of the first year of legalization, NORML Canada has monitored the Canadian cannabis landscape closely, to determine the next steps for crafting achievable and functional reform of cannabis regulations.
On Wednesday, September 25th, 2019, NORML testified at the DC Council Committee on Labor and Workforce Development in support of B23-0309, which seeks to expand workplace protections for medical cannabis patients in the District of Columbia.
Illinois has an estimated 770,000 marijuana related criminal records which are now eligible for clemency by Governor Pritzker.
The Act states, “A public employer may not refuse to hire, terminate from employment, penalize, fail to promote, or otherwise take adverse employment action against an individual based upon the individual’s status as a qualifying patient.”