By Anthony Califano, Jennifer Mora, and Frederick T. Smith
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employers are grappling with the wave of marijuana laws sweeping the nation, some of which provide very employee-friendly protections. While no state requires an employer to tolerate employees’ use of marijuana or impairment while they are working, present drug testing methodologies cannot determine whether an employee
Continue Reading Marijuana Breathalyzers: Could New Testing Methods Help Employers And Employees?
By James L. Curtis and Adam R. Young
Seyfarth Synopsis: The National Safety Council released a policy statement endorsing employer zero-tolerance policies for cannabis use for employees who work in safety-sensitive positions, explaining that no level of cannabis is safe.
Unlike a test for Blood Alcohol Content, testing results for Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) metabolites (the psychoactive components of cannabis)
Continue Reading National Safety Council Endorses Zero Tolerance Prohibition on Cannabis/Marijuana for Safety-Sensitive Employees
By Tonya M. Esposito, Renee B. Appel, and Jonathan Huie
Seyfarth Synopsis: CBD is “thriving” in the current regulatory environment, but is it doing so illegally?
As former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb opined last week, “the CBD craze is getting out of hand. The FDA needs to act.” Since the passage
Continue Reading CBD is Everywhere – But Where Does the FDA Stand?
By Becki Lee
Seyfarth Synopsis: Regular readers will recall that in March we blogged about cannabis-related trademarks. We now have an update:
On May 2, 2019, the USPTO distributed an Examination Guide updating their practices after passage of the 2018 Farm Bill on December 20, 2018. The Farm Bill removes “hemp” from the definition of “marijuana” in the
Continue Reading Likely to be Dazed and Confused – An Update
By Anthony Califano, Ariel D. Cudkowicz, John Ayers-Mann, and Frederick T. Smith
Seyfarth Synopsis: On May 23, 2017, in Callaghan v. Darlington Fabrics Co., a Rhode Island Superior Court issued a unique decision regarding employer obligations to medical marijuana users.
The Judge who penned the decision began his analysis by quoting a 1967 lyric from
Continue Reading Refusal To Hire Medical Pot Users Just Got Riskier–At Least In Rhode Island
By Caitlyn Crisp and Michael Cross
Seyfarth Synopsis: California voters gave the green light to recreational use of marijuana with the passage of Prop 64. Marijuana users may have felt like they struck Acapulco Gold, but a review of the law on drug testing in the workplace may turn out to be a buzzkill.
When can an employer drug
Continue Reading Marijuana at Work: Testing of (and for) Mary Jane
More and more cities and states are legalizing the use of marijuana for medical and recreational use. The good news is that means in those jurisdictions the local and state police will not arrest you if your use conforms to the local/state law-medical use states require a prescription and recreational use laws usually limit the amount
Continue Reading Legalizing Marijuana – Off-Duty Use – An Employer’s Quandary