House
Republicans Further Attack Oregon Medical Marijuana Patients
House Republicans show continued contempt and
disregard for the health and well being of Oregon citizens registered in the
Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, as demonstrated by the gutting and stuffing
of HB 2693. Intended to insure the protection of patients’ rights under the Oregon Medical Marijuana
Act, pages 2-4 of the bill have been removed and replaced with changes making
employment more difficult for those who legally use cannabis as medicine in
Oregon.
The bill, being heard by the House Judiciary
Committee Monday at 8:30 in Hearing Room 357,adds having marijuana in the
person’s system to the definition of use of medical marijuana, and creates an
anti-medical marijuana protection for employers which allows an employer to
treat a doctor-recommended therapeutic cannabis patient as a criminal in
violation of work place ‘protocol’.
According
to House Republicans, employers need not accommodate the medical use of
marijuana in the workplace nor be precluded from maintaining a drug free work
place, further demonstrating a refusal on the part of House Republicans to
recognize medical marijuana as a safe medicine rather than a dangerous, illegal
drug.
This bad bill arrives on the heels of HB5077, which
passed the House this week, and is likely to pass the Senate soon, which
transfers nearly a million dollars in funds from the OMMP to DHS to help
balance the budget. This will likely result in the Department of Human Services
raising registration fees for sick and suffering Oregonians registered in the
program.
Laird Funk, Volunteer Lobbyist for medical marijuana issues and an early registrant in the OMMP, knows well the problems facing OMMP registrants. He lost his national award-winning career in wastewater management due to a “Drug Free” policy crafted by his employer. Mr. Funk said in regards to HB2693’s re-stuffing,
“The main problem posed to employers by the
existence of medical marijuana-using employees is not that of the supposed danger
of such persons in the workforce or their relative productivity. It is
that allowing known marijuana users to continue working has the real
possibility of quickly undermining the claim that marijuana users do represent
a safety or productivity problem by demonstrating that they do not at all
differ from non-users. Such a demonstration would require that the
invasive process of determining employee suitability through urinalysis be
reconsidered regarding its utility, an embarrassing concept for the current
drug warriors pushing these attempts at demonizing marijuana users.”
“Marijuana should be treated like other
medicines. Impairment resolves when the main psychoactive component of
marijuana, THC, returns to low blood levels at 3 to 4 hours after smoking
marijuana. Urine testing does not prove impairment it only proves recent use.
Registration in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program should never be sole cause
for termination of employment.” said Dr. Rick Bayer.
contact
info:
Richard
E. Bayer, MD
(503)
292-1035 voice
(503)
297-0754 fax