Essay On Medical Marijuana In The Workplace

In Canada, it’s currently not legal to use marijuana for recreational purposes. However, people with some medical conditions can get a prescription for medical marijuana from their doctors.
These conditions include chronic pain, cancer, sleeping disorders, and more. According to the Toronto Star, nearly 130,000 Canadians are registered to purchase medical marijuana. It’s possible that some of these people could be your employees. This means your workplace could be affected by medical marijuana. While you may not be ready to add medical marijuana coverage to your health benefits plan just yet, you need to think about your employees’ use of it.
Here are three things employers should consider about medical marijuana in the workplace.
1. Disclosure of Medical Marijuana Use

Since other types of prescriptions don’t need to be disclosed, they may not think they need to tell you about marijuana treatments. Some employees could worry about jeopardizing their jobs by disclosing their medical marijuana usage.
Employers have an obligation to accommodate their employees’ workplace medical marijuana usage but only if the need for the medication has been disclosed. Employees who don’t disclose their usage can be disciplined or fired, just like recreational users. To avoid this situation, employers should update their workplace drug policies to include a duty to disclose workplace marijuana usage.
After updating your policy, some employees may come forward to disclose their workplace medical marijuana usage. Employers are entitled to ask for proof of a prescription. While you might be curious about your employees’ conditions, remember, it’s not appropriate to ask for details. The reasons they need medical marijuana are between them and their doctors.
2. The Safety of Your