FIRING FOR POT USE IS EMPLOYEE'S CALL

Gary Ross had back pain, and he treated it with dope. When Ross
failed a drug test, his employer promptly fired him.

Ross had proof-positive that his drug use was legal. He had a medical
marijuana card authorizing him to use the drug for treatment of pain
from a back injury sustained while serving in the U.S. Air Force.
Despite his condition and his card - and despite an injury sustained
while serving his country - the California Supreme Court last week
upheld the company's decision to fire him.

Marijuana arguably is a great drug for pain relief, and for some it's
safer and less mentally and physically draining than harsher
painkillers such as Vicodin and Percocet - commonly prescribed by
doctors and dentists and seldom the topic of employee/employer disputes.

Based on an Associated Press report, the company - Ragingwire Inc., a
small telecommunications firm in Sacramento - argued that federal law
does not recognize marijuana deregulation in California and 11 other
states. The U.S. Supreme Court declared in 2005 that state medicinal
marijuana laws don't protect users from prosecution.

It's unfortunate that the company based its case on a bad Supreme
Court ruling. The federal government has no business usurping state
laws that allow residents to use marijuana. If voters in California
are on board with medicinal marijuana use, what gives the central
government a right to oppose them? Only bizarre and habitual abuse of
the interstate commerce clause. The U.S. Supreme Court's disrespect
for state marijuana laws nearly eliminates any pretense that we're a
nation of independent states.

However, just as states should have the right to allow marijuana use
as voters see fit, private companies have the right to reject it
among employees. Companies have rights to hire and retain only
drug-free workers.

Companies have rights to hire only fat people, or thin people, or
people with high IQs who eat only organic food and never use aspirin.
The right of companies to carefully discern which qualities are best
and worst in employees must be maintained in the interest of free and
competitive enterprise.

The voluntary relationship between an employee and an employer is
respected in the First Amendment, which the courts have interpreted
as a restriction on governments to interfere with free association
among adults. The right to freely associate demands the right to
freely disassociate, which requires the right to hire and fire at will.

It's unfortunate that Ragingwire fired Ross for treating his pain.
But the decision, no matter how inane, belonged to Ragingwire. Good
decision? Maybe not. Legal decision? Absolutely.