Proposed bill could protect Colorado employees who use cannabis

It’s been nearly 10 years since Colorado voters legalized recreational cannabis, but for some state employers, prohibition remains the law of the state.

A proposed law would change that, as lawmakers there revive efforts to ban employers from firing employers solely for using marijuana.

The new legislation, dubbed the “Employer’s Ban on Marijuana Use” (or HB1152), seeks to prevent employers from “taking adverse action against an employee, including a job applicant, who engages in the use of … medicinal.” Marijuana involved on employer’s premises during work hours; or retail or medical marijuana off the employer’s premises during off-hours hours.”

The bill allows exceptions to the rule, stating that an employer “may impose restrictions on employees’ use of medical or retail marijuana in certain circumstances.”

According to the Colorado Sun, these exceptions include “workers whose jobs are in hazardous areas or require fine motor skills, such as driving. B. Positions where heavy machinery is used”.

HB1152 would solve a particular dilemma in Colorado, where cannabis has been inseparable from the state’s culture and economy since voters voted on a legalization proposal in 2012. Medical cannabis has been legal in the state since 2000.

It follows an earlier legislative effort proposed in 2020 that would also have banned companies from firing workers for using cannabis outside of work.

Democratic country representative. Brianna Titone, the main sponsor of HB 1152, said there was no point in a worker being fired for doing legal work.

“Marijuana is legal in Colorado,” Titone told the Colorado Sun. “And what people do in their free time that doesn’t affect their work shouldn’t really be a problem for them. They should be able to enjoy the legal stuff we have here in Colorado and not be penalized for it.”

Democratic Rep. Edie Hooton, a co-sponsor of the bill, echoed those sentiments.

“The whole idea is to send a signal to the business community and employers that because we’ve legalized cannabis, we should follow the same laws and rules that apply to alcohol and prescription drugs,” Hooton said, as quoted by the Colorado Sun.

The disconnect between law and corporate policy highlights what has been a key tension over the past decade of legalization in the US, even as state after state has followed Colorado’s example and ended prohibition within its own borders, weed remains illegal in federally still forbidden to other sections of society.

In Colorado, disagreement bubbled to the surface in 2015 when the state Supreme Court “ruled that DISH Network acted legally when it fired a paraplegic employee, Brandon Coats, who was using medical marijuana to treat seizures while not at the… Labor was after a random drug test returned a positive result for marijuana,” according to local Denver TV7.

“It sucks. I can’t get a job, especially when my case is out there like this,” Coats said, as quoted by the station. “You don’t get a job for something that’s legal, and it doesn’t make sense to me.”

The bill has drawn objections, including from the Colorado Chamber of Commerce and the Colorado Mining Association.

“Mining and marijuana don’t mix. Mining, like many other professions out there, is an inherently dangerous job no matter what jobs you have in mind. But you can reduce the risk of injury and death. The most important way to do this is through a zero-tolerance drug policy,” said Stan Dempsey, the president of the Colorado Mining Association, as quoted by Denver7.