WORKING SPLIFFS

The Fight Over Medical Marijuana At Work Is On-Again.

A corporate lawyer is reigniting a four-year legislative battle to
stomp out thousands of Oregon medical marijuana users in the
workplace. And cannabis advocates fear this time they'll finally
lose the fight.

Dan Harmon, vice chairman of Associated Oregon Industries, has been
touring the state telling business leaders and policy makers he'll
push the 2009 Legislature to allow employers to fire medical
marijuana users-even if they toke only at home.

Harmon says he's also pushing to require employer notification if a
worker has a medical marijuana card.Currently, 20,547 Oregonians have them.

"Basically, it would allow them to hang up the 'No Medical Marijuana
Patients Need Apply' sign," says Russ Belville, associate director
of the Oregon chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws. "They want your boss to become your doctor."

Harmon, general counsel for Portland-based building giant Hoffman
Construction, echoes cops who say the law is widely abused. Harmon
also believes medical marijuana poses a danger to workplace safety.

"We have a permissiveness around substance abuse," Harmon says.
"There's an agenda out there to legalize marijuana, and this can't
be the Trojan horse."

Oregon law now says employers need not accommodate patients'
marijuana use in the workplace, but it says nothing about home use.

Harmon wants to bring back a bill that's twice failed to pass the
Legislature. That measure would rewrite the law to say employers
need not accommodate medical marijuana users "regardless of where
the use occurs." Harmon says the change would leave it up to bosses
to decide if a worker's marijuana use poses a threat, whether they
use it on the job or off.

After failing in the 2005 and 2007 legislative sessions, a
compromise bill was slated for the 2008 special session. Rep. Peter
Buckley (D-Ashland), who authored the compromise, says House leaders
spiked it because a Feb. 4 editorial in The Oregonian opposed
it, calling instead for employers to be allowed to fire users.

This time around, pot advocates fear the bill will finally pass
because one of its early supporters, Rep. Dave Hunt (D-Gladstone),
has been elevated to House speaker for 2009. Hunt was in the
minority of eight Democrats in 2005 who voted for the bill, which
was carried by arch-conservative Rep. Linda Flores (R-Clackamas).

In the past two years, campaign finance records show Hunt has
received $16,000 from Associated Oregon Industries. But Hunt's
spokesman, Geoff Sugerman, says that's irrelevant to a compromise
that now-Speaker Hunt will be seeking.

"Clearly our goal is to find legislation that satisfies both the
business community and medical marijuana cardholders," Sugerman
says. "We are confident that we'll pass the bill in both chambers
this session."

Proponents of the change frame the issue in terms of workplace
safety. But marijuana advocates point to numerous state statistics
that show workplace accidents and deaths have been decreasing since
the medical-marijuana law passed. And because THC can linger in fat
cells for more than 30 days, merely testing positive can't confirm
whether a worker is under the influence when tested.

As a compromise measure for workplace safety, pot advocates are
proposing impairment tests for jobs such as drivers and crane
operators, where safety is a significant issue. Ultimately, they'd
like to see a patient's bill of rights that guarantees marijuana
users won't be fired for taking their medicine.

The state Bureau of Labor and Industries says patients' jobs are
protected only if they use marijuana to treat a qualifying
disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. If not, they
can be fired merely for testing positive on a drug test, even if
it's for prescribed marijuana. But the new proposal would both let
employers know who has cards and end ambiguity around home use.

Several fired workers have challenged their employers in court.
Leland Berger, lawyer for the Voter Power marijuana reform group,
says so far there has been no conclusive case in Oregon that would
protect employee rights.

FACT: When Dan Harmon's older brother David was terminally ill 15
years ago, Harmon says he bought him marijuana on the black market
to ease his suffering.