At their July 13-15 meeting in Oakland, the California Democratic Party’s Executive Board passed a resolution in support of the right of all employees to engage in the consumption of cannabis off-duty without the fear of being terminated from their jobs.
The CaDEM resolution supports all employees’ rights (for medical and recreational use) and was sponsored by the Brownie Mary Democrats of California.
Despite the passage of Prop. 64 in California, employees here can still be terminated from their jobs for failing a drug test for marijuana, even if they have a doctor’s recommendation to use it. A Cal NORML-sponsored bill that would have protected medical users’ employment rights, AB 2069, stalled in the legislature this year.
Text of the resolution is below:
RESOLUTION 18-07.19
Supporting Employee’s Rights for the Lawful Off-Duty Use of Cannabis
WHEREAS Adult-Use Marijuana Act (AUMA) which makes lawful the use of cannabis by adults 21 and over but allows “public and private employers to enact and enforce workplace policies pertaining to cannabis” resulting in employees being terminated for off-duty use of cannabis use, and
WHEREAS for many consumers, cannabis provides the same social facilitation and celebration as alcohol without the negative consequences of alcohol consumption, an employee should not be terminated for consuming cannabis as long as that off-duty conduct does not result in being unable to safely and competently perform their job, and
WHEREAS Adult-Use Marijuana Act (AUMA) can be amended by a two-thirds majority vote of the state legislature, and
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the California Democratic Party supports protecting the rights of all employees to engage in the consumption of cannabis off-duty without the fear of being terminated from their job, and
BE IT FUTHER RESOLVED that the California Democratic Party cannabis consumers to have the same rights to consume cannabis without fear of termination or reprisal, same as consumers of alcohol while respecting employers’ duty to provide a drug-free work place.
