Are Registered Nurses Allowed To Have A Medical Marjiuana Card In The State Of Arizona
Valley nurse Timothy Costello idea being transparent with his employer about getting a medical marijuana card would go along him in practiced standing at work. He has chronic back hurting and trouble sleeping, and he'd ever told his boss virtually new prescriptions without incident.
Instead, his decision may cost him his task.
The 42-yr-former emergency room nurse told his boss he planned to become a medical card in Dec. When his supervisor didn't know the hospital's policy on medical marijuana, Costello reached out to his employer, Valleywise Health.
The visitor's reply? If Costello tested positive for cannabis in his system — fifty-fifty with a legal card and fifty-fifty if he never used cannabis during piece of work hours — he'd exist fired.
Costello asked for more information, but the wellness system hasn't notwithstanding responded. He went to the land nursing board for advice, but the documents they gave him didn't provide a articulate answer. Agape to utilize his new medical carte but no longer wanting to take opiates or other prescription drugs, Costello waits in pain.
The workplace stalemate highlights 1 of the biggest unanswered questions for employees under Arizona'due south medical marijuana laws: Which takes precedence — the land'south initial medical marijuana police force, passed in 2010, or an employer protection law passed a yr subsequently that some fence is unconstitutional?
Tension Builds
Costello started as an ER nurse at Valleywise Medical Center in Maryvale in early 2019, just he's dealt with dorsum pain ever since he injured himself during a workout 5 years ago.
Two bulging disks, spinal stenosis, and spinal degenerative disease requite the Air Strength veteran from New York the kind of pain that rips across his dorsum and makes his muscles tighten. Sometimes, it's so severe he can't walk.
"I have good days and bad days," he said. "When I work a couple days in a row, the adjacent 24-hour interval I wake up, information technology's usually a bad 24-hour interval."
While Costello has used prescription drugs similar Flexeril, Oxycodone, and Tramadol to manage the pain, and Xanax to help him sleep for the final ii or three years, he said more stringent restrictions amid the opioid crisis have forced him to jump through hoops to get the medicine he needs. He's changed insurance policies multiple times with new nursing jobs, and each time he'south had to fight to get his prescriptions in order.
In Dec, it reached a breaking bespeak: He visited a pharmacy two days subsequently his medicine was ready and constitute his insurance company had canceled the prescription entirely.
So, in an attempt to have more reliable access to medication — and to fight against edifice a tolerance to addictive prescription pills — Costello decided to switch to medical marijuana. He asked his supervisor for permission before using his bill of fare, choosing to be honest and figuring it would exist legal to utilize cannabis outside of work, given that Arizona voters legalized medical marijuana a decade ago.
He wouldn't prove up to work impaired, he said, or bring cannabis to the infirmary. A nurse for the last 7 years, Costello takes his job seriously.
A printout of Timothy Costello'southward emails with his employer shows his company doesn't protect his correct to use medical marijuana.
Ali Swenson
Merely to his dismay, in early January, the director of employee health and wellness at the infirmary sent him an email saying top leadership had told her a positive drug test for cannabis could consequence in termination — even with a legal card.
A spokesperson for Valleywise Health, the health system that owns Valleywise Medical Center and employs some 4,000 people across Maricopa County, told Phoenix New Times he couldn't talk about specific employee matters. He said the company's policy "mirrors Arizona constabulary" on the topic of medical marijuana and employment.
The trouble is, the history of laws governing this topic in Arizona is controversial and undefined past precedent.
The Arizona Medical Marijuana Human activity, which voters passed to legalize cannabis for medicinal utilise in the state in 2010, clearly states that employers tin can't discriminate against their employees for using a medical marijuana card.
Merely a year subsequently, realizing the weight of that statement, the Arizona Legislature passed a pecker calculation new employer protections for "safety-sensitive" workplace environments.
That police force, HB 2541, says an employer can burn down someone without fright of retribution if the employee is in a "safety-sensitive" office and the employer has a "expert faith belief" the staffer has been impaired during work hours.
It passed the Legislature and was signed into police force by Governor Jan Brewer in 2011. But some argue it violates Arizona's 1998 Voter Protection Human action, which requires any amendments to a law passed past voters to receive a supermajority vote and "farther the purpose" of that police force.
HB 2541 did pass with a supermajority, but critics argue information technology goes against the intentions of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Human action by limiting patient rights.
"For that to be constitutional, it has to further the purpose of the original Medical Marijuana Act," said Ryan Hurley, a cannabis lawyer and in-house counsel for the clinic company Copperstate Farms. "To me, that's a stretch."
Constitutional or Non?
Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry spokesperson Garrick Taylor was involved in the passage of the 2011 constabulary.
He defended the bill'due south legality in an interview with New Times, proverb, "The idea that nosotros are seeking to guard against workplace accidents would seem to be a realistic and proper reaction to the passage of medical marijuana."
He argues that information technology'due south fair for employers to be worried about staff being impaired at work — and they should have the right to create policies to ensure the workplace remains safe.
But Joshua Carden, an attorney who has represented medical marijuana patients in several workplace disputes, disagrees, arguing the law is unconstitutional under the land'south Voter Protection Human action. He says it rolls back the anti-discrimination protections medical marijuana patients are supposed to enjoy instead of furthering the initial constabulary's purpose.
"I'thousand not like a weed crusader where I call up everybody ought to smoke all the fourth dimension, but I exercise think the law ought to be consistent."
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Plus, since impairment is notoriously difficult to measure out with cannabis, it could lead some employers to falsely charge their employees of using the drug at work, Carden said.
"Of course we don't want actually impaired people sticking people with needles and doing surgery," Carden said. "Nobody wants that. I'chiliad not, like, a weed crusader where I call back everybody ought to smoke all the time, but I practice call back the police ought to be consistent."
He said employers have used the law to block their staff from using medical marijuana by arguing sure jobs are safety-sensitive, fifty-fifty when they're not.
"Every bit you lot might imagine, employers accept taken it and run with it," Carden said. "I've literally had cases where the finance manager at an motorcar dealership is considered a safety-sensitive position."
Legal cases over the years in Arizona have answered some of the lingering questions effectually whether schools or employers should be able to punish patients for medical marijuana employ.
In 2018, the Arizona Supreme Court struck down a constabulary that criminalized medical marijuana on college campuses, saying the law violated the Voter Protection Act by going against the intentions of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.
And in 2019, later on an Arizona Walmart fired an employee for testing positive for marijuana metabolites on a drug test, Carden helped the patient win a ceremonious rights case confronting Walmart. He argued the company had no reason to believe the employee was dumb or in possession of marijuana at piece of work.
But, Carden said, the consequence of whether or not the "safety-sensitive" provision on workplace medical marijuana use is constitutional under the Voter Protection Act has yet to be litigated.
"The stars take not aligned for me to have a straight shot at that event in a court yet," he said.
Until then, patients like Costello who work in the medical field or other potentially condom-sensitive roles are in a precarious position — medical marijuana is legal, simply if their employers find out, they could however confront repercussions.
"My advice for anyone in the medical profession would exist to say until a court has struck down that safety-sensitive exception — and information technology ought to exist struck downwards, but until that happens — I can't promise y'all that you'll be able to continue your job," Carden said.
'I Can't Let Fright Stop Me'
Costello said several of his coworkers at Valleywise Medical Heart apply medical marijuana during their off hours without disclosing it to their employer. Others have told him they desire to get a medical marijuana bill of fare, simply they're afraid of getting in trouble.
The state nursing board told New Times it has not adopted a particular policy regarding medical marijuana, but information technology follows Arizona medical marijuana police force that prohibits land licensing boards from disciplining people for exercising their patient rights.
At present that Costello has decided to stand up upward to Valleywise Health to attempt and get a judgment protecting his right to use cannabis, he's nervous his employer volition observe a reason to burn down him, only he's not letting that stop him.
Timothy Costello, an Air Forcefulness veteran, says the armed services helped him learn to appreciate his rights — and fight for them.
Ali Swenson
"When you're in the armed forces, you lot lose your constitutional rights," he said. "Y'all sign them away. Now I take constitutional rights, and I appreciate them. Any fourth dimension you're on the front end line, you lot risk repercussions. I can't allow fear stop me from moving forward."
Costello is considering taking legal action to argue Valleywise Health tin can't punish him for using medical marijuana after work.
For now, he's using an herbal remedy called kratom, which his employer doesn't have a policy against, to soothe his pain.
Costello has merely e'er used marijuana a few times in his life, he said, then if he gets drug-tested, he'll exist make clean.
"Everything I practice is perfectly legal and legit, and if it's not, I will not do information technology," he said. "No one wants to have attention directed at them in a negative fashion. But things don't happen unless you stand."
Source: https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/fired-for-medical-marijuana-in-arizona-nurse-valleywise-hospital-11431084
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