On Monday the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that a company can still fire an employee even if they are using medical marijuana. This is a blow to those who have found that medical marijuana helps where pills don’t. Brandon Coats was fired from the Dish Network when he failed a random drug test in 2010. Even though Coats stated that he never smoked while on the job and only smoked in the privacy of his own home. The court ruled that even though state law in Colorado allowed the use of medical marijuana it went against federal law. This ruling may open many doors by those in the marijuana business to be either sued or taken to court. At present there are cases in lower courts waiting to be heard against the marijuana business.
You would think that states such as Colorado where it is legal to purchase recreational marijuana wouldn’t have these problems. Unfortunately until the federal government gets on board allowing for medical marijuana to be used nationally more and more of these attempts to hinder the usage of medical marijuana will be popping up.
One of the main problems at the moment for those in the marijuana business is banking. Since the federal government is involved in the banking business it is hard for growers or business owners to get loans or deposit money into banks due to federal law against marijuana.
This grey area between state and federal law will be here for some time. The congress has begun talks on medical marijuana but as of this time nothing has been set in stone and all that is being done is talking. The marijuana business is a powerful force to be looked at and taken seriously as this weed is growing with increasing popularity.
More and more studies are being done on the effectiveness of marijuana as an alternative to pills that don’t seem to be worth the money that is spent on them. Sooner or later the federal government will remove its restrictions against marijuana, mostly due to the fact that at the moment there are 23 states that allow medical marijuana and more are coming on board. The presidential elections of 2016 will see an increase in the number of states that allow medical marijuana and this will force the federal government to look at changing national law concerning medical marijuana. For information on the status of the legalization of medical marijuana in the State of Florida please go to forthepeople.com and United For Care.
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