D.C. Council Passes Bill to Prohibit Pre-Employment Cannabis Testing
The
Washington D.C. Council has approved the Prohibition on Pre-Employment Marijuana Testing Amendment Act of 2015 (Bill 21-25). The measure was passed on a unanimous voice vote.
According to an official summary of the bill, it would prohibit employers “from requiring a prospective employee to submit to a drug test for marijuana use as a part of the application procedure.” In addition, the legislation “requires the Mayor to: Establish a public information campaign on the impact of marijuana use and abuse; Report to the Council information regarding health education programs in public schools related to substance abuse; Evaluate the effectiveness of the District’s treatment programs regarding the use and abuse of marijuana.”
After an individual has been offered a job, and the individual has been hired, the employee must still “adhere to the workplace policies set forth by their employer”, meaning they can still be tested for on-the-job cannabis use. They simply can’t be tested before being accepted for the job.
The proposal will need to be voted on once more by the Council before going to Mayor Muriel Bowser for consideration.
– TheJointBlog
logan
What is the point if they can still test you for it once you get the job…It should not be something to test for it period.
Shannon Claxton
This is a wonderful start for this problem. I would add that it shouldn’t be allowed for any company in a state that has legal recreational or medicinal marijuana to ever test their employees for cannabis. Don’t ask, don’t tell!
Anonymous
Agreed! They don’t ask about all your prescriptions and many of those are much, much worse than cannabis.
Sara Davis
I have always laughed about testing perspective employee for marijuana, considering it stays in your system forever. I am a retired public education teacher and I never used MJ during those years (but I needed it), although I was never tested. In my former profession (radio personaity) our bosses knew they didn’t want to test because they would not be able to hire anyone.
Anonymous
Actually, it only stays for about 30 days- a few heavy users may go a little longer but there are also ways of cleaning up within a week.
Anonymous
That is forever compared to pretty much any other drug that will stay in your system for one night to a week. Being the least harmful drug, I feel it’s unfair to test for it because even if your clean for a month, it’ll show up like you did it the night before. Whereas herein and coca in users, and alcoholics get off Scott free.
not important
Is this for all 50 states or just a few select.
Billy Holcomb Sr. ...Houston Texas
Well i Can agree to that,but then they need to pass the same bill for Alcohol Abuse too,and a lot of them will still be drunk the next day !!!! Living Example and already been there working a long time and smoked allthe time back then.Made me more aware amd more efficent too !
Anonymous
WEed is not yhe problem. All the other drugs. Thats the problem
Anonymous
They already check for alcohol abuse at the work place. I’ve been an electrician for 30 years and it is common place to drug screen all potential employees. Nobody wants a stoned or drunk or hungover employee on site, it’s dangerous. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. What needs to happen is they need to develop a test that can show approx when an employee has partaken in the use of. I’ve smoked my whole life but NEVER at work or just before going to work. Until they have a foolproof test that can show when a substance has been used, everyone will be treated the same and it is not fair but till then, better safe than sorry and for those workers that are responsible and don’t use drugs during work hours, you will have to find a way to beat the system like I have for my whole career. Shame is that the irresponsible worker/user can and will beat the system also….bottom line is we need across the board legislation that makes sense and the test that shows when any substance, not just cannabiss and alcohol, that can alter your mind is being used only during off time. Just my experienced opinion…have a great safe day!
Anonymous
If it’s going to be legal so b it the reason y the government is against it is the government and pharmaceutical companies lose money billions of dollars a yr be cuz it cures the problem not treat the symptoms.Has anyone heard of people robbing banks are go on a killing spree no not one time one record,and if the government was smart package and sell like cigarettes the U.S would b out of debt in 7 to 10yrs I’m all for it it’s a nature grown plant from GOD just like other plants used for medical uses
Clayton
If it’s going to be legal so b it the reason y the government is against it is the government and pharmaceutical companies lose money billions of dollars a yr be cuz it cures the problem not treat the symptoms.Has anyone heard of people robbing banks are go on a killing spree no not one time one record,and if the government was smart package and sell like cigarettes the U.S would b out of debt in 7 to 10yrs I’m all for it it’s a nature grown plant from GOD just like other plants used for medical uses
Granger Null
This is good, But it doesn’t go far enough. States that have made Cannabis legal but refuse to protect their citizens has in essence only made cannabis legal for the unemployed, and think of all the money they are loosing. People who are making a house payment will not risk loosing everything to use cannabis, so the state is loosing millions in sales taxes.What good does it do to have cannabis legal , but not be able to use it? This is no good it is a carrot on a stick