Urge Governor Schwarzenegger to Protect Patients' Employment Rights Tue, Sep 09, 2008 1:10 pmmore: headline news, medical news, activism news Source: stopthedrugwar.org [Courtesy of Americans for Safe Access] Dear ASA Supporter, Right now, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering signing a bill into law that will protect the jobs of hundreds of thousands of medical cannabis patients in California. We cannot let this effort fail! Contact the Governor's office immediately to tell him he must sign AB 2279 into law! We've come a long way in protecting patients' rights to work. Assemblymember Mark Leno introduced AB2279 in February, and your phone calls, emails, and letters helped get the bill passed in both houses of the California Legislature. Now, the final step is the Governor's signature. He can either veto it or sign the bill, and he needs to hear from everyone in California, now more than ever before. It's up to you now to push past this final hurdle towards protecting patients' employment rights. Call the Governor and tell him how you feel. Tell him to sign AB 2279 and make it California law! When the California Supreme Court ruled in Ross v. Ragingwire that patients could be fired simply for using medical cannabis as allowed under California law, we knew we had to fight. We built support with the Service Workers International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which represent over one million California workers. We also enlisted the help of local Chambers of Commerce, HIV/AIDS advocacy organizations, and many other organizations that have taken a stand to ensure patients do not face workplace discrimination. There is no time to lose. The Governor is already hearing from lobbyists and big business who oppose AB2279. But if you think that medical cannabis patients should be allowed to hold jobs, we need you now! Visit ASA's action page to email the Governor's office and tell him that he must protect the jobs of workers in our communities. He MUST sign AB 2279 into law! Then, call his office at 916-445-2841 and say: "Hi, my name is [YOUR NAME], and I am asking that Governor Schwarzenegger sign AB 2279, the medical cannabis workers' rights bill into law. California is going through tough economic times, and right now hundreds of thousands working individuals can be fired just because of their status as legal medical cannabis patients. People with illnesses should be encouraged to work whenever possible. They should not risk discrimination because of their condition. Thank you." Thank you for all of your continued support, and for being the driving force behind this campaign. Sincerely, George Pappas Field Coordinator Americans for Safe Access P.S. For more information on AB 2279, visit: www.AmericansforSafeAccess.org/AB2279
man, no way would i sign that. many of the jobs where people HAVE TO take drug tests are that way because of extremely hazardous working conditions. the people with whom they contract to work for WILL NOT pay a company that allows cannibis users. i think this one goes more under "find a different job." i think cannibis is a great medicine AND recreational drug. but unless job safety laws are changed first, you can't really go forcing someone to hire or maintain an employee that will lose them their clients.
I feel the same way about pain killers, but yet an employer cannot fire an employee who is on pain killers. They can make sure that they don't operate heavy machinery while on the pain killers and the same should be the case with medical marijuana. As long as some one is not under the influence while operating the machinery there should be no grounds for termination.
i agree for the sake of sheer rationality. alcohol is the same, none of anyone's business so long as it doesn't interfer with their working hours. but many of these companies are filling contracts with international companies that have these requirements in place to limit liability suits. to force a company to hire people that would lose them those contracts isn't really all that fair. what makes sense and what companies do according to their research, lawyers and numbers don't always align.
Oh come on......cannabis is NOT as impairing as you make it out to be. Lots of people can work quite efficiently on it.....and you usually don't take risks while on cannabis unlike alcohol. It does largely depend on the person, but overall people should be judged on their performance and not what they take. So yeah this bill should be signed....the more freedom the better.
As you said it is not as impairing but still is impairing, I have worked around large construction equipment for over seven years now and have seen what the smallest of a slip up can do. I have seen reachforks roll of trailers, loaders tip over and backhoe operators dig into electrical lines all because of a slight miscalculation. All of these things could have resulted in death but luckly that did not happen. I agree that marijuana is a great medicine but there are some jobs that people who use marijuana on the job should not have. When it comes to non hazardous jobs I see no reason why a person should not be able to take there medicine.
Well then I guess as always it comes back to the individual.....because with some people there is no impairment and in others it can even improve performance. I mean we can blame slip-ups on anything.....heck even being too caffeinated can effect things and yet if someone who is very caffeinated does such a mistake they wouldn't be called for it. So this notion is partly cultured-base.....for example laborers in India that smoke pot for energy don't ever get blamed for doing something wrong. I guess it's dose-dependent as well (I think most people wouldn't be impaired at all on lower doses), but there's just too many factors here to have one universal way to approach this. Which is why there should be some protection......within reason of course. But I do think that there is significant impairment no matter what the reason is, it should stopped, but interpreting the cause of it should vary.
this isn't MORE freedom. this is removing the right of a company to bid for work with companies that do not allow impairing drugs. i think the wording should be better, because prescription for pot doesn't mean you can take it during work hours. just like anything else that impairs ones thinking, employers would be liable for allowing an employee to come to work while on them. what they want to do at home seems none of anyone's business, and i'm all for the legalization. however, i'm not for forcing the hiring until the companies with whom these employers do business change their practices to a more reasonalb stance.
