JUDGE UPHOLDS WALMART'S FIRING OF MICHIGAN MEDICAL MARIJUANA USER

GRAND RAPIDS - A federal judge today ruled that the state's medical
marijuana law protects legal users from arrest, but not employers'
policies that ban use of the drug.

Joseph Casias, who has an inoperable brain tumor, was fired by the
Walmart store in Battle Creek after he failed a drug test.

"The fundamental problem with (Casias') case is that the (medical
marijuana law) does not regulate private employment," U.S. District
Judge Robert Jonker wrote in a 20-page opinion.

"Rather, the Act provides a potential defense to criminal prosecution
or other adverse action by the state. ... All the (law) does is give
some people limited protection from prosecution by the state, or from
other adverse state action in carefully limited medical marijuana situations."

He said the law "says nothing about private employment rights.
Nowhere does the (law) state that the statute regulates private
employment, that private employees are protected from disciplinary
action should they use medical marijuana, or that private employers
must accommodate the use of medical marijuana outside of the workplace."

Casias' attorneys, including the American Civil Liberties Union,
claimed that his firing undermines the law, and forces medical
marijuana users to choose between jobs and medicine.

But the judge wrote: Under the theory of Casias' attorneys, "no
private employer in Michigan could take any action against an
employee based on an employee's use of medical marijuana. This would
create a new protected class in Michigan and mark a radical departure
from the general rule of at-will employment in Michigan."

The judge also rejected a request to have the case remanded for trial
in Calhoun County Circuit Court. Jonker heard arguments on the case
in November, and signaled that Casias' attorneys had tried to expand
the law to the workplace.

Casias, 30, maintained that he only used marijuana after his work
shift, and did not use on the job. He was tested for marijuana after
a workplace accident last year, and fired. His oncologist suggested
he try using the drug.

Walmart's attorneys contended that the medical marijuana law wasn't
intended to regulate businesses.