Can Smoking Medical Marijuana Affect Your Job? Learn if pot can be dangerous to your future career goals.

There have been calls over the last couple of years by various lawmakers and non-profit organization to legalize the use of marijuana. In fact, the use of marijuana for medical reasons is legal in California and a number of states are considering legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes. Unfortunately, employers are less likely to change their opinion in regards to the effects of cannabis at the place of employment in spite of its medicinal values.

According to several human resource executives, the problem is not about firm legality of marijuana, but an occupational problem. The use of drugs including medical marijuana is associated with both performance and malingering. Besides, there are numerous liabilities that employers are likely to face.

Regardless of whether or not the federal government decides to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, it is not going to alter the policies at the workplace. For example, a majority of business establishments in California where the use of cannabis has been permitted for medicinal reasons do not enlist employees who have a history of marijuana use.

Prescription for Medical Marijuana vs. a Promising Career

Whereas states like California have legalized the use of medical marijuana, there are no laws that have been enacted to protect the rights of users at the workplace. In a ruling that was made in 2008 in California Supreme Court, it was determined that the Compassionate Act that was passed into law in 1996 was not designed to influence the rights of an employer and as such a company can layoff an employee regardless of the fact that he/she has a prescription for medical marijuana in the event that they fail a drug test.

Since lawmakers have done very little to enact laws that safeguard marijuana users at the workplace, smoking pot can greatly affect your prospects of being employed or promoted to a higher position within your current workplace.

So Is Pot Dangerous To Your Career? YES…..but just like life its complicated.

Ways to seek out advice

• Career coach – Talk to a career coach to help you determine your life goals.
• Therapist - Talk to a therapist to help review the stress in your life that’s causing you to smoke pot
• Rehab Counselor – Think you have a drug habit? Then find a drug rehab counselor to walk you through the steps needed to reduce your pot habits
• Drug Lawyer - Got arrested for drug DUI or possession? Then speak to an experienced drug possession attorney to review your case for a strong defense.

About The Author:

Christopher J. McCann is a practicing Los Angeles Drug Attorney at the law offices of Christopher J. McCann, who was recently awarded his 6th SuperLawyers Magazine “Rising Star” award. You can follow Chris tweets at @cjm_law_firm

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 9th, 2013 at 8:21 am and is filed under Career, Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.