HIGH COURT TO RULE ON MEDICAL POT FIRING

The state Supreme Court waded into the conflict between state and
federal drug laws Wednesday and agreed to decide whether employees in
California can be fired for using medical marijuana.

The justices granted a hearing on an appeal by Gary Ross of
Sacramento, who was fired after eight days of work as a systems
administrator for an information technology company when he tested
positive for marijuana on a pre-employment physical exam. Chief
Justice Ronald George and Justices Joyce Kennard, Kathryn Mickle
Werdegar and Carlos Moreno, a majority on the court, voted to review
the case.

The ruling will determine whether Proposition 215, the 1996 initiative
that legalized marijuana for medical purposes in California, protects
employees who can show that they are capable of doing the job.

In his lawsuit, Ross said he had suffered back injuries while in the
Air Force, started using marijuana with his doctor's approval in 1999
and was able to work without impairment. He was hired by Ragingwire
Telecommunications in September 2001 but fired after the company
received results of his drug test.

A state Court of Appeal panel in Sacramento ruled unanimously in
September that the company had not discriminated against Ross based on
his disability. The three-member panel included Justice Vance Raye,
who is being considered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for appointment
to the state Supreme Court.

"An employer need not accommodate a disability by allowing an employee
to use illegal drugs," Presiding Justice Arthur Scotland wrote. He
noted that marijuana remained illegal under federal law and that the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the California law could not
shield patients from federal prosecution.

If employers were barred from discriminating against medical marijuana
users, Scotland said, they might have to let them bring their drugs to
work. Such requirements were not written into the 1996 initiative and
should be imposed by the Legislature or the voters, not the courts,
the panel said.

Ross' attorney, Stewart Katz, said Ross wasn't asking to be allowed to
bring marijuana to work or smoke it during breaks, just to be allowed
to continue his medical treatment away from the job. He said Ross had
held a series of lesser jobs since his firing.

"It's not an employer's job to do an independent assessment of whether
you're potentially violating some federal statute," Katz said. "We're
seeking enforcement of a California law in a California court."

An attorney for the company declined to comment.

The case is Ross vs. Ragingwire, S138130.