Introduction

With more than eighty percent of the states having passed marijuana legalization laws in some form, and the legalization of cannabis study by the federal government, the age of cannabis reform may be on the horizon. So, what does this mean for employers? It means that all of the federal laws dealing with medical issues, including disability, serious health conditions, and anti-discrimination would be obligated to embrace cannabis as a medication and treatment.

Areas Covered In The Webinar

• We will discuss the federal and some state statutes, including

  - The Controlled Substances Act

 - Americans with Disabilities Act

 - Family and Medical Leave Act

 - State medical cannabis laws (MMAs)

 - State recreational cannabis laws

 - State laws against discrimination (LADs)

 - Cannabis caselaw, including implicit protected classes and drug free workplaces

• We will examine the differences between legal and illegal cannabis use in workplace policies and procedures, including Drug Testing, Drug and Alcohol, and other related policies
• We will consider the ier the impact of COVID and remote working on cannabis use
• We will examine the best policies, practices and procedures, including:

 - Hiring Policy

 - Drug Testing Policy

 - Workplace Conduct

 - And other policies

Why should you attend?

State cannabis legalization has continued to grow, state by state, over the past few years to more than eighty percent. But we know this; what is new in the world of cannabis legalization? The answer is “everything.”

With the federal government’s ongoing refusal to remove cannabis as a Schedule I Drug from the Controlled Substances Act, federal cannabis reform has been effectively blocked on the federal level. This federal ban has been predicated on one sole requirement of the CSA; that is, cannabis has no medical value. This single presumption has been the unscalable impediment upon which the anti-cannabis politicians have been able to block cannabis from CSA removal.

The ban is comprised of circular logic. With the criminalization of drugs decades ago, the federal government determined cannabis had no medical value. With no medical value, cannabis was placed on the CSA and therefore was illegal to use. Because it was illegal to use, it was also illegal to study. Because the federal government could not legally study it for medical benefit, it remained as having no” medical value,” and therefore has remained on the CSA.

In 2022, Congress passed a law allowing the federal government to study the medicinal properties of cannabis. While not the first law of its kind, it is the first federal law publicly passed for the purpose of cannabis study.

Thirty-seven states have already determined that cannabis has positive medical properties. Thus, with the federal government’s ability to legally study cannabis, coupled with the studies of the state on the medical benefit of cannabis, it is unlikely the federal government will be able to maintain the argument regarding the lack of medical benefits of cannabis. In short, this changes everything.

Who Will Benefit

• All human resource experts
• generalists 
• employees with human resource obligation