Title
Authorizing City Council's Committee on Labor & Civil Service to hold hearings regarding the State's recent legalization of medical marijuana and to address questions related to medical marijuana's potential impact on employers and employees in Philadelphia.
Body
WHEREAS, The Medical Marijuana Act (MMA), 35 Pa.C.S.A. ยง10231.101 was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf on April 17, 2016, after approval by the House on April 13, 2016, and the Senate on April 12, 2016. The law allows for the removal of criminal penalties for medical marijuana usage in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and became effective May 17, 2016; and
WHEREAS, Twenty-eight other states - Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington State, West Virginia - and the District of Columbia have laws regulating the use of medicinal marijuana; and
WHEREAS, Many of these states are several years into implementation of their medical marijuana legislation, and during this time, various legal questions have been raised, some of which concern the overlap of medical marijuana and employment. Oftentimes these legal issues arise when an employer refuses to hire or terminates an employee due to a positive drug test, but that employee is a medical marijuana user; and
WHEREAS, In some states, the court has ruled in favor of the employer. For example, the Supreme Court of Colorado in 2015 held that the plaintiff in Coats v. Dish Network, was not protected under a Colorado state statute prohibiting an employer from terminating employment for lawful activity off the premises, since the court interpreted "lawful" to mean lawful under the state and federal law, and marijuana is still illegal as per federal law; and
WHEREAS, In other states, the court has ruled in fa...
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