GROUP TAKES AIM AT MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW

Dan Harmon is not celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Oregon
Medical Marijuana Act.

Harmon chairs the Drugfree Workplace Legislative Work Group, which
wants the state Legislature to make substantial changes to the law
approved by voters in November 1998.

"We are going to push hard this next session," Harmon told members of
the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce last week.

One of the first orders of business, Harmon said, is to reintroduce
Senate Bill 465, which would exempt employers from having to
accommodate medical marijuana users, no matter when or where they use
the drug. The Senate approved the bill in 2007, but it couldn't clear
the House.

The work group also wants to delete some of the conditions currently
approved for treatment with marijuana, restrict the approval of new
conditions, require employer notification when a worker applies for a
medical-marijuana card and stiffen penalties for those who violate the
act.

Besides leading the work group, Harmon is the executive vice chairman
of a large Portland construction firm and a board member of Associated
Oregon Industries, one of the state's most powerful business groups.

In his talk to the Albany chamber, he cited several reasons why
employers would want to think twice about hiring medical marijuana
users, including concerns about workplace safety, legal liability and
the potential loss of federal contracts. He also said Oregon's medical
marijuana law is being widely abused, and the law itself "says
something about permissiveness in this state, and we've got to stop
this permissiveness."

More than 20,000 Oregonians have cards authorizing them to use
marijuana for medicinal purposes.