Last week, the New Jersey Legislature passed a bill that legalizes marijuana use by patients with certain chronic illnesses. The bill, which Governor Corzine is expected to sign before leaving office on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients who have been diagnosed with such illnesses as cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and Lou Gehrig's disease. However, insurance companies will not be required to pay for medical marijuana. The Department of Health will issue registry identification cards to eligible patients, and the marijuana will be available from state-sponsored dispensaries.
While the bill does provide that employers do not have to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in the workplace, there are certainly some employment issues that could arise, such as:
- Can you apply drug-testing and drug-free workplace policies to job applicants and/or employees who are legal users of medical marijuana?
- Is medical marijuana use a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act?
- Are medical marijuana users elgible for intermittent leave under FMLA? At least one federql court has held, "Yes."
