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January 22, 2010
THE UNINTENDED IMPACT OF NEW JERSEY'S NEW MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW ON THE WORKPLACE
On January 18, 2010, as one of his final acts before leaving office, Governor Corzine signed into law the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, S. 119, 213th Leg., (N.J. 2010) ("Compassionate Use Act," or the "Act"), making New Jersey the nation’s fourteenth state to legalize the use of medical marijuana by qualifying patients. The law will become effective on July 1, 2010, but in the interim, the Commissioner of the Department of Health and Senior Services ("DHSS") and the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs ("DCA") will begin to take administrative action to effectuate the provisions of the Act. Employers who perform drug testing on job applicants and/or employees should take the time to revisit their policies on drug use and drug testing to clearly state their position on medical use of marijuana so as to navigate the various liabilities that may arise as a result of this change in the law.
I. Introduction
The Act does not affect federal laws concerning marijuana, but decriminalizes medical use of marijuana under New Jersey state law under particular circumstances. Like the thirteen states that already allow medical marijuana use, New Jersey’s Act was passed to protect from criminal prosecution patients who use medical marijuana to alleviate the symptoms or side effects of treatment related to certain "debilitating medical conditions." The debilitating medical conditions covered by the Act include epilepsy, HIV, AIDS, cancer, ALS and multiple sclerosis, among others. DHSS will maintain a confidential registry of qualifying patients and issue registry identification cards to these individuals. The Act states that a qualifying patient "shall not be subject to any civil or administrative penalty, or denied any right or privilege" related to the medical use of marijuana, but it also explicitly provides that employers are not required "to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any workplace."
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Lowenstein Sandler makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the completeness or accuracy of the Alert and assumes no responsibility to update the Alert based upon events subsequent to the date of its publication, such as new legislation, regulations and judicial decisions. Readers should consult legal counsel of their own choosing to discuss how these matters may relate to their individual circumstances.
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