Archive for the ‘Medical Marijuana’ Category

WA Legal Roundup: Division II

September 18, 2009

Roe v. Teletech Customer Care Mgmt., LLC.

Though Washington’s Medical Use of Marijuana Act (MUMA, chapter 69.51A RCW) may excuse a marijuana user from criminal prosecution, it will not give rise to a suit for wrongful termination.  In Roe, the applicant received a conditional offer of employment, but failed a pre-employment drug screen.  The employer revoked her offer and Roe sued for wrongful termination in violation.  The court rejected her arguments that 1) MUMA created a private right of action providing her with a civil remedy  and 2) MUMA expressed a public policy against which the normal rule of at-will employment did not apply.

From a strictly doctrinal perspective, the analysis in Roe holds up just fine, but pragmatically the opinion leaves a lot to be desired.  I suppose it’s the larger social issue of whether employers have the right to discharge individuals for otherwise private conduct outside of the workplace that has little to do with the performance of the job itself that has me bothered, but I wonder whether opinions like these will one day be viewed as those myriad Lochner era primacy of contract cases are now viewed.

WA Legal Roundup: Division II

September 17, 2009

State v. McCarty

McCarthy and her roommate, Otis [see previous blog on State v. Otis], were charged with manufacturing marijuana.  At trial, the court precluded the defense of medical marijuana.  Otis presented documents from a patient designating him as the patient’s caregiver.  Otis also presented documents from the patient’s doctor allowing him to use marijuana for medical purposes.  None of these documents mentioned McCarthy. 

On appeal, McCarthy argues that the trial court erred in precluding her medical marijuana defense.  The appeals court disagrees and argues that she is precluded from bringing a medical marijuana because there was no evidence that she was a primary care giver of a patient that was allowed to use marijuana for medical purposes.  The documents presented at the hearing referred only to Otis. 

The appeals court did remand McCarthy’s case back to trial for the purpose of allowing her to present a defense under RCW 69.51A.050(2), which states that a person cannot be convicted of manufacturing marijuana based solely on their presence or vicinity of the medical marijuana. 


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