Nevada\u2019s legislature has taken a ground-breaking step toward truly implementing the spirit of the cannabis legalization initiative approved by state voters in November 2016. Under the new law, to take effect at the start of 2020, Nevada employers will be barred from refusing to hire a prospective employee over testing positive for cannabis. Nevada is the first state to pass such a measure.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs our legal cannabis industry continues to flourish, it\u2019s important to ensure that the door of economic opportunity remains open for all Nevadans,\u201d Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, said upon officially approving the bill on June 5. \u201cThat\u2019s why I was proud to sign AB132 into law, which contains common-sense exceptions for public safety and transportation professionals.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Assembly Bill 132<\/a>\u00a0reads:\u00a0\u201cIt is unlawful for any employer in this State to fail or refuse to hire a prospective employee because the prospective employee submitted to a screening test and the results of the screening test indicate the presence of marijuana.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n There are the inevitable exceptions. As the\u00a0Nevada Sun<\/a>\u00a0reports, the law does not apply to firefighters, emergency medical technicians, workers who operate a motor vehicle or those whose performance could adversely impact the safety of others. This last category is determined solely at the discretion of the employers, so it could prove a significant loophole. But the bill does contain language providing something of a remedy:\u00a0workers who fail a drug test during their first month at the job will be able to challenge the finding by paying for a second test.<\/p>\n The bill\u2019s co-sponsors, Democratic Assembly members Dina Neal and Edgar Flores, emphasized to the Sun that on-the-job cannabis use is not coming under any legal protection. Instead, the new law aims to address what Neal called \u201ca moral and social dilemma\u201d caused by the ability of drug tests to detect trace amounts of THC in blood or urine weeks or even months after cannabis use.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t condone marijuana use,\u201d Neal said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t want unfairness and discrimination. We were saying marijuana dispensaries can sell to people, but then the people couldn\u2019t work. We had to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n Added Flores: \u201cWe needed to ensure we were providing safeguards for marijuana users who are following state law and are trying to get jobs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Adult-use cannabis sales began in Nevada two years ago, pursuant to the initiative approved by the state\u2019s voters in November 2016.\u00a0Question 2<\/a>\u00a0legalized use and possession of up to one ounce of cannabis by adults 21 and over. Medical marijuana was legalized in Nevada in 2000 \u2014 also by popular initiative<\/p>\n But will other states follow the lead of the traditionally libertarian-leaning Silver State? In one encouraging sign, the New York City Council\u00a0passed a bill<\/a>\u00a0in April that\u00a0bars employers<\/a>\u00a0from requiring job applicants to pass a drug test for cannabis as a condition of employment \u2014 and New York state\u00a0doesn\u2019t even have a legalization law<\/a>, yet. In Maine, which voted to legalized adult-use cannabis in the same 2016 elections that Nevada did, employers are\u00a0not allowed to discriminate<\/a>\u00a0based on cannabis use, but there are no laws that directly address drug testing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n National legislation that would bar drug-test discrimination in states that have legalized cannabis is now\u00a0pending on Capitol Hill<\/a>. The question is not only an issue because 11 states have now legalized, with a further 33 adopting medical marijuana laws that allow use of THC. It is becoming increasingly clear that drug testing often brings back false positives, especially if proper protocols are not followed by the testing lab. And often,\u00a0they aren\u2019t<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nationally, about 2.8% of urine-based workplace drug screenings brought back positives for cannabis in 2018, according to\u00a0Quest Diagnostics<\/a>\u00a0drug-testing service. Cannabis was also the most commonly detected illicit drug, according to the service, cited by\u00a0USA Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nevada also experienced a slight cooling of ambitions for cannabis freedom this month, when the\u00a0state legislature blocked Las Vegas<\/a>\u00a0from opening cannabis lounges until 2021. In contrast, Denver is about to do just that, following a\u00a0new Colorado law<\/a>\u00a0allowing for \u201csocial use.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, have you ever been denied a job opportunity because of your cannabis consumption?\u00a0<\/p>\n The post Nevada Bans Employment Discrimination Over Cannabis Use<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Nevada\u2019s legislature has taken a ground-breaking step toward truly implementing the spirit of the cannabis legalization initiative approved by state voters in November 2016. Under the new law, to take effect at the start of 2020, Nevada employers will be barred from refusing to hire a prospective employee over testingContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10274,50,484,9393,10258,90,4552,139,26,4835],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36119,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36118\/revisions\/36119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Will Other States Follow?<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Nevada Bans Employment Discrimination Over Cannabis Use<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"