Companies May Fire Medical Pot Users, Says Calif. High Court

The California Supreme Court has ruled that companies are not liable for firing users of medical marijuana.

The court said in a 5-2 decision (PDF) that the Compassionate Use Act passed by voters in 1996 bars the state from criminalizing medical marijuana use but imposes no requirements on employers, the Los Angeles Times (reg. req.) reports.

Writing for the majority, Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar said marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and the state fair employment statute "does not require employers to accommodate the use of illegal drugs,” the Recorder reports.

"The point is perhaps too obvious to have generated appellate litigation," she wrote.

Joseph Elford, chief counsel for Americans for Safe Access, argued the case for the plaintiff, a systems administrator fired for using medical marijuana for chronic back pain. Elford told the Recorder he believes the opinion is an invitation to the legislature to clarify that the fair employment law protects medical marijuana patients.