Medical marijuana use may be legal in Missouri — it’s currently one of 33 states that have approved the regulation — but workers with medical marijuana cards should still be a concern for employers, according to Anthony J. Margherita, MD, who presented “An Overview of Medical Cannabis: A Balancing Act” to the St. Louis chapter of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) last week.
Margherita is the founder and CEO of Midwest Cannabinoid Clinics (MidwestCannabinoidClinics.com) and owner/medical director of West County Spine & Sports Medicine.
Employees with medical marijuana cards are “something your organizations are going to have to respond to,” Margherita said. “Now it’s in full gear.”
The issue can be one of safety and liability exposure, such as a company truck driver accident or a construction injury, after using medical marijuana. One way some businesses are responding is by hiring out more contractors; some are reducing testing.
About 130,000 individuals in Missouri are currently certified for medical marijuana cards and that number is expected to increase to 200,000-250,000. Employees who want to use medical marijuana in or outside the workplace must be certified by a medical professional as having a qualifying condition before they can be certified to get a card, but many people obtain fraudulent certifications or use “fly by night” outlets.
“This will be an issue until the state starts to enforce the regulations,” Margherita said.
While CBD was deregulated in 2018, Margherita said users must be careful about what they buy and use.
“Seventy percent (70%) of products are not what they are labeled. Cannabis today is also probably ten times more powerful than what someone might have smoked in the 1960s. Medical doses tend to be lower and of better quality than recreational versions; however, medical marijuana certification is not a license to get blotto at work.”
On the positive side, Margherita noted that data show the number of employees impaired by medical marijuana use to be “extremely low.”
Best practices for employers include:
• Talk to your company attorney about any state laws in effect, including discrimination against someone with a medical marijuana certificate versus a traditional prescription for something like pain or migraine treatment.
• Don’t tolerate marijuana use on the job, just as you wouldn’t tolerate alcohol use.
• Train managers to spot signs of impairment among workers.
• Stay on top of developments in testing technology.
• Talk to your lawyer about relevant state laws before setting policies and testing rules.
• If your company operates in different states, be aware that laws vary so testing policies may have to vary by location.
• Educate employees about the company's marijuana-use policy and what can happen if they fail tests.
Margherita strongly recommended that any company in the commercial real estate sector do the following to prepare for or respond to medical marijuana use by workers:
• Develop or modify workplace policies and plans in relation to the Medical Marijuana Program in Missouri — this includes whether workers have to show their medical marijuana cards, as well as more familiar policies about urine tests and other approaches to workplace safety.
• Develop an impaired worker policy and distribute it to employees to reduce any confusion or ambiguity — make it part of employee manuals and handbooks, and communicate about it often and clearly.
• Establish or modify assessment programs for determining employee impairment.
• Create or modify testing protocols for medical marijuana, pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs.
“You make the decisions,” Margherita said. “There is nothing in Missouri law that says you can’t have a zero-tolerance policy about drug use that includes medical marijuana.”
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Upcoming IFMA events include:
Golf Tournament, September 24
Industry Expo (with BOMA and IREM St. Louis chapters), October 21
New Member Social, November 4
Aquarium Tour, November 10 (limited attendance)
New Building Code Update, January 19, 2022 (rescheduled from 2021)
For details, go to https://ifmastl.org/.