AGENCY WILL ALLOW OFF-JOB USE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The Tualatin Valley Water District's Decision To Rewrite Its Policy
Reflects The Wide-Ranging Effect Of Oregon's Law

If you smoke marijuana to ease your pain, you won't be fired from the
Tualatin Valley Water District -- perhaps the first public agency in
Oregon to let employees use medical marijuana.

There are restrictions, of course. Employees who smoke must have a
medical marijuana card, they can't smoke on the job, and the
district's 30 employees with federally issued commercial driver's
licenses can't toke at all, because federal law still regards
marijuana as a controlled illegal drug.

None of the water district's 85 employees uses medically prescribed
marijuana, but its decision to rewrite its substance abuse policy is
another sign that the medical marijuana law, passed by Oregon voters
in November 1998, is forcing a wide range of people and businesses
across the state to re-examine their attitudes toward the drug.

The water district chose to act before a situation involving one of
its employees arose. Other agencies, such as Multnomah County and the
city of Portland, are taking a wait-and-see attitude. But the law
already is raising questions for people such as Portland resident
Larry Humphrey, who lost his job at a trucking company after he tested
positive for marijuana he uses legally.

The law permits people to use marijuana for a variety of conditions,
not just terminal illnesses, including problems such as nausea that
don't keep them from doing their work. However, under Oregon's law,
employers can refuse to accommodate medical marijuana use by employees.

Since May, the Health Division has issued more than 400 marijuana-use
cards to patients suffering from extreme pain and debilitating
diseases. And with the Health Division considering expanding the law
to apply to conditions such as anxiety, depression and sleep
disorders, employers will either have to define their stance on
medical marijuana or fire a lot of disgruntled employees.

The district, which pumps water to more than 160,000 people in
unincorporated Washington County and portions of Portland, Beaverton,
Hillsboro and Tigard, may be the first public agency to put such a
policy on paper, according to lawyers, activists and public officials
across Oregon.

The water district's board of commissioners voted unanimously last
month to rewrite its substance abuse policy to bring it into line with
the new state law. The district's human resources director suggested
the district address the issue before an employee raised it.

"We're just being proactive," said Greg DiLoreto, the water district's
general manager. "All employers in Oregon will be faced with it.
There's no precedent -- we're setting the standard here. If you step
back from it being marijuana, all you're dealing with is a
prescription drug, and employees will need to notify their supervisor
if they're using it."

Finding Job Proves Tricky

Larry Humphrey would like to notify the water district he's looking
for a job. A medical marijuana cardholder who smokes to relieve
arthritic pain, Humphrey lost his delivery job with the trucking
company, Link Logistics, in November after he tested positive for marijuana.

"I'm lost," said Humphrey, who does not have a commercial driver's
license and therefore does not fall under federal law. "I'm not sure
how to make out a legal, trustful rsum -- nobody's going to hire me if
I do. Do I go to other companies with a resume that says Link Logistics
let me go because I'm a marijuana user? Are they going to hire me or
the 10 other applicants?"

Link Logistics -- a national corporation with operations in Portland
- -- is proud of its drug-free policy, especially because it operates
trucks that cross state lines, said a manager who asked not to be
identified because legal action is pending on a labor complaint
Humphrey filed with the state.

Many companies qualify for significantly lower insurance rates if they
enforce strict drug-free policies.

"I'm not smoking now so I can go out and try to get employment," said
Humphrey, who never told co-workers or his three adult children that
he smokes pot. "I'm in Oregon and I have my legal rights, but I've
been going without medication because I can't get employment. I'm in a
lot of pain, and that's not fair."

As more cards are issued -- and Kelly Paige, manager of the Health
Division's medical marijuana program, said she expects to mail out
another 200 by the end of April -- more employees will face Humphrey's
predicament, and more businesses will have to act.

Laws Difficult For Businesses

The discrepancy between state and federal law has made businesses
reluctant to rewrite their employee handbooks, said Paula A. Barran, a
Portland lawyer who specializes in labor law.

So instead of adopting policies, most businesses and governmental
agencies -- including the state government, Multnomah County and the
cities of Portland and Eugene -- have adopted wait-and-see attitudes,
delaying a definitive decision until an employee begins using the
drug. Larger public agencies, including the Port of Portland and the
Unified Sewerage Agency, haven't rewritten their substance abuse
policies, either.

"Employers feel caught between responsibility to one set of legal
requirements and the prohibitions of another set," said Judith L.
Clark, president of H.R. Northwest, the largest human resources
consulting firm in the Northwest. "It's great to be in Oregon, where
we make new laws, but every once in a while it's just a tad bit
challenging. We understand there's a law, but no one is quite sure
what the boundaries of that law are."

When crafting its policy, the water district weighed issues of
liability and public safety against compassion for suffering
employees, said Jim Duggan, chairman of the district's board of
commissioners.

"If an employee was using marijuana to relieve the pain of
chemotherapy, how could we, in good conscience, fire that employee?"

Duggan said. "We didn't want to get into the situation where an
employee had a medical marijuana card and it conflicted with our
existing policy. We felt like we had to craft something fair, but we
didn't have a whole lot of examples."

Medical marijuana activists said the water district came up with a
good compromise, essentially applying the same rules to marijuana use
that govern prescription drugs, and created a good model for other
employees to heed.

"That's a positive, reasonably enlightened take on it," said Keith
Stroup, executive director for the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws. "It may not be a perfect solution, but it
seems like a good-faith attempt to let the law work as passed by the
Oregon voters. And it has even more impact in the sense that it's a
public agency."
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You can reach Matt Palmquist at 503-294-5955 or by e-mail at
mattpalmquist@news.oregonian.com.