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Michigan Ends Weed Testing For Some State Jobs
Michigan officials have approved a rule that ends drug screenings for cannabis for many state jobs.
The Michigan Civil Service Commission adopted a rule change last week that will end drug screenings for marijuana for applicants to many state jobs. The new rule overturns previous state policy that automatically disqualified applicants to state positions that tested positive for cannabis, although applicants to some positions will still be required to pass a marijuana screening before hiring.
The rule change effectively treats cannabis like alcohol for many applicants for state jobs. Pre-employment drug screenings will still be conducted to test for cocaine, opiates, amphetamines and phencyclidine, also known as PCP. The policy change, which goes into effect on October 1, also eliminates a current rule that bars applicants to state positions that test positive for marijuana from applying for another state job for a period of three years.
The rule change was adopted by the Civil Service Commission at its meeting on July 12. Commissioner Nick Ciaramitaro said the change is needed to comply with Michigan’s marijuana legalization statute, which was approved via a statewide ballot measure in 2018. Voters also legalized medical marijuana ten years earlier with the passage of a 2008 ballot proposal.
“Whether or not we agree with it or not is kind of beyond the point,” Ciaramitaro said in a statement quoted by MLive. “Use of marijuana on the job is different than having used it months before you take the test … It doesn’t make sense to limit our ability to hire qualified people because they took a gummy two weeks ago.”
According to the Civil Service Commission, nearly 350 applicants for state positions were eliminated from eligibility for employment based on a positive cannabis screening since recreational marijuana was legalized five years ago.
Michigan residents made the decisions to “treat marijuana, recreational marijuana, much like alcohol,” said Commission chair Jase Bolger.
“Not that anybody should be overindulging on alcohol on Friday night, I’m not suggesting that they should be getting high on Friday night,” Bolger added, “but to treat them the same when they show up to work on Monday morning seems consistent with the current public policy in the state.”
Some Applicants Still Face Testing For Cannabis
However, not all state jobs will be affected by the rule change. Negative drug screenings for cannabis will still be required for those applying to the Michigan State Police or the Department of Corrections or for healthcare positions, and applicants for state jobs that require driving, operating heavy machinery or handling hazardous materials.
Before the new rule was adopted, Bolger responded to public comments about the proposal, noting that state employees will not be permitted to use cannabis or be under the influence of marijuana while they are working. Screenings for marijuana will be permitted if an employee is suspected of being under the influence of marijuana while at work or as part of a job-related accident investigation.
“Because of ongoing testing requirements under federal law and safety considerations related to test-designated positions, the proposed amendments would preserve the status quo for pre-employment, random-selection, post-accident, follow-up, and reasonable suspicion testing for those positions,” the Civil Service Commission wrote in a memo outlining the policy change.
Peter Neu, a spokesperson for the Michigan Association of Governmental Employees, told local media that the group advocating for state workers is in favor of the rule change ending marijuana screenings for many government positions.
“We believe the changes appropriately bring Michigan Civil Service Commission regulations in line with laws passed by citizens in Michigan,” said Neu. “The state of Michigan currently has a recruitment and retention problem, and we believe the changes will help recruit a wider number of potential employees.”
Although he voted to approve the rule change, Michigan Civil Service Commissioner Jeff Steffel, a former 28-year state police trooper, said he’s “not totally on board.”
“Why is it the work done by our state employees any less important in terms of marijuana impairment than what it is for police officers, nurses, etc.,” he said. “So I think it is bad policy to not screen for marijuana and not prohibit those people from being employed.”
“I don’t care if someone uses marijuana; I don’t care about many of the social issues out there,” Steffel added. “Live and let live. I do care about performance of state government, and I would like us to continue testing for marijuana, because in three or four years, if we find there’s a problem, we can make changes.”David Harns, a spokesman for the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency, which is responsible for regulating cannabis marijuana while currently banning use by prospective employees, said the agency looks forward to complying with the new rules.
Source: https://hightimes.com/news/michigan-ends-weed-testing-for-some-state-jobs/
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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