WHEN THEY OUTLAW MARIJUANA, ONLY THE POTHEADS WILL HAVE POT

Sick People Can Go to Hell, but They Should Stop by the Welfare Office First

In 1996 Californians voted to enact the Compassionate Use Act,
permitting the cultivation and use of marijuana for medical reasons.
Not wanting to look too flaky, seven years later the state followed
up with SB 420, which implemented an ID card system and a few limits
(on the amount of marijuana or the number of plants that can be kept
by a patient, for example). But possession and use could no longer
be criminalized. And that settles it......unless you have a job that
you would like to keep.

Last Thursday, the California Supreme Court ruled that state
employers are free to fire workers for using medical marijuana with a
doctor's prescription even if the employee's performance is in no way impaired.

The test case was brought by Gary Ross, who in no way fits the
stereotype of prescription-forging rif-raf: he is 46, a veteran of
the Air Force, and due to injuries sustained in the service he now
suffers back spasms that are severe enough to qualify him for both
government benefits and a medical marijuana ID card. In 2001 he was
hired as an administrator not a pilot or school bus driver by
RagingWire Telecommunications. Ross informed RagingWire of his use
of medical marijuana from the beginning, and presented his ID card
before taking his drug test. A week later, when the test came back
positive for trace amounts of marijuana, Ross was fired.

This is the latest installment in the comedy of errors that passes
for drug policy in the state of California and the US as a whole.
Recently Long Beach residents have gotten their own eyeful of
municipal confusion regarding medical marijuana: on November 20th
federal agents arrived at Compassionate Caregivers (on 4th St.) with
a search warrant, and left with 33 kilos. City officials were silent
on the subject.

Similar raids have taken place in Los Angeles, but the LA City
Council has chosen to be less accommodating: council members have
attended council meetings with pink armbands in an expression of
solidarity with those requiring medical marijuana, expressed
considerable frustration with the federal government, and strongly
recommended that the LAPD reassess its policy of cooperating with the
DEA. Councilwoman Janice Hahn: "We know we have no control over the
federal government, but I don't think we should play a role in
helping them raid clinics we have authorized."

Official reaction to the Long Beach raids?

[cue sound of crickets]