On January 24th, the California Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that employers can fire workers for using medical marijuana. The court dismissed a lawsuit brought by Gary Ross under the state's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) that he had been wrongfully denied employment by RagingWire Telecommunications on account of testing positive for past use of marijuana on a urine test. The court took a narrow interpretation of Prop. 215, ruling that it did not create a general right to use medical marijuana, but only protected patients from criminal sanction for possession or cultivation of marijuana.

Sponsors of Prop 215 contested this interpretation. "Prop. 215 was intended to give patients the same right to use medical marijuana as other, legal prescription drugs," said California NORML Coordinator Dale Gieringer, a co-author of the initiative. Prop 215 advocates are calling on the state legislature to consider extending the protections of FEHA to workers who use medical marijuana. Assemblyman Leno's decision to introduce ASA-sponsored legislation marks the first step of a new phase in the battle to end patient discrimination. In 2006, Assemblyman Leno and other legislative co-authors of SB 420 filed an amicus brief with the Court in support of Ross and underscored that the legislature's intent was to permit the use of medical cannabis outside the workplace and that the Fair Employment and Housing Act "generally requires accomodation of medical cannabis use by disabled persons with medical conditions."

In the meantime, the court's decision leaves the door open for discrimination against medical marijuana users via drug urine tests, even though not a single FDA study has ever proven that urine testing is either safe or effective in ensuring job safety.

Statement from California NORML | Statement from Americans for Safe Access | Fair Housing and Employment Act