Wal-Mart’s drug policy
Marijuana users can easily get accidents since they are not normal. Joe Casias, an employee at a Wal-Mart store in Battle Creek, Michigan, injured his knee while at work. Pursuant to Wal-Mart corporate policy, Casias was required to take a routine drug test to check for intoxicants and other substances. “A routine drug user will not be able to work may lead to loss of employer employee .For instance .When the drug test came back, it showed that Casias tested positive for marijuana. In accordance with Wal-Mart’s drug policy, Casias was promptly fired from his job, which he had held for five years. This was according to the law and drug users have high probability of losing their job”.
Those people who take drugs as medicine are prone to losing their jobs. “From the story used marijuana to treat the crippling pain he experienced every day from sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor pressing against his skull.” It was his doctor who prescribed the drug, which is legal in Michigan for medicinal purposes, to alleviate the pain from the disease when traditional painkillers stopped working. Marijuana succeeded in easing some of his pain, and Casias was able to go to work, support his young family, and earn money to pay off his rising health care bills. Finally he was fired from job ,despite the fact that marijuana has got some positive uses it is not according to the law to According to Casias, he never came to work high, but instead used the marijuana to treat his pain after work when he was at home. By all accounts, Casias was a model employee. So when Casias informed Wal-Mart of the reason there was marijuana detected in his system that day and showed them his legal medical marijuana card issued to him by the state of Michigan he was surprised that he was fired.
Many other medical marijuana supporters were also up in arms about Wal-Mart’s decision. In light of the fact that medical marijuana is legal in the state, many people expected that Wal-Mart would be more lenient and take the unique circumstances of Casias’s situation into account. Wal-Mart stuck to its decision, however. As Wal-Mart corporate spokesperson Greg Rossiter explained to the media, “In states, such as Michigan, where prescriptions for marijuana can be obtained, an employer can still enforce a policy that requires termination of employment following a positive drug screen. We believe our policy complies with the law, and we support decisions based on the policy.” Rossiter also cited safety concerns for customers and workers as justifications for Wal-Mart’s actions.
Marijuana is deadly drug and can result to several negative impacts to the user such as lack of job. National corporations like Wal-Mart must take into account different drug laws in different states and also deal with liability issues involved in the matter. “Many corporations have decided it is too risky to accommodate medical marijuana users and have opted to terminate their employment if medical marijuana use becomes known. In Casias’s case, he filed an appeal with the US District Court”. On February 11, 2011, a federal judge upheld Wal-Mart’s right to terminate his employment Michigan’s medical marijuana law does not regulate private employment