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As Missouri lawmakers work to advance marijuana legalization in the state, the St. Louis County Council on Tuesday approved a bill to ban pre-employment and random drug testing for cannabis for most county workers.<\/p>\n
The move would build on\u00a0broader local actions to decriminalize cannabis possession and cultivation<\/a> in the city of St. Louis, as well as a local Kansas City Council vote last year to enact a similar policy drug testing policy change<\/a> for cannabis.<\/p>\n The new measure, sponsored by Councilmember Lisa Clancy (D), states: \u201cNo person currently employed by St. Louis County or applying for employment by St. Louis County shall be required to undergo pre-employment or random drug testing for the presence of marijuana metabolites (THC) as a condition or part of employment.\u201d<\/p>\n People who legally use marijuana for medical purposes shouldn’t be discriminated against AND this policy will remove a barrier to recruitment and hiring. That’s why I sponsored and passed this bill. #privacy<\/a> #hiring<\/a> #medicalmarijuana<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/Sj6kGJufwE<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Lisa Clancy (@lisadclancy) March 9, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n There are exceptions, however. People who are mandated to undergo drug testing under specific state or federal laws, those who work in safety sensitive positions and those who are suspected of having been intoxicated on the job could still be screened for cannabis.<\/p>\n The measure<\/a> passed<\/a> in a party-line vote of 4-3, and County Executive Sam Page is expected to sign it into law,\u00a0as The St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thank you to the county council for supporting this legislation. https:\/\/t.co\/pD2mZdnzeM<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 County Executive Sam Page (@DrSamPage) March 10, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Meanwhile, there are efforts underway in Missouri to legalize adult-use marijuana statewide, with a Republican lawmaker unveiling a measure to tax and regulate cannabis<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n \u2014 Rep. Ron Hicks (R), sponsor of the \u201cCannabis Freedom Act,\u201d said in a memo to colleagues that the measure was drafted in a way that thoughtfully incorporates elements from \u201cevery marijuana bill filed this session\u201d to create a \u201cfree but tightly regulated market for legal marijuana.\u201d That measure was heard in a House committee<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, another Missouri Republican lawmaker is again making\u00a0a push to place cannabis legalization on the ballot<\/a> with a resolution he filed late last year.<\/p>\n Under that plan, adults 21 and older could purchase, possess and cultivate cannabis for personal use. It also does not specify allowable amounts.<\/p>\n Still, some activists aren\u2019t waiting on the legislature to take action to refer the issue to voters, with one campaign officially launching signature gathering in January for a separate reform initiative.<\/p>\n Separately, the group New Approach Missouri, which successfully got a\u00a0medical cannabis initiative passed by voters in 2018<\/a>, announced last summer its plans to\u00a0put the reform proposal on the ballot<\/a>\u00a0through its new campaign committee Legal Missouri 2022.<\/p>\n Some stakeholders\u2014particularly black entrepreneurs\u2014have expressed concerns about proposed licensing caps included in that campaign\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n The organization tried to\u00a0place the issue of legalization before voters<\/a>\u00a0in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic derailed that effort.<\/p>\n Despite the health crisis, activists managed to\u00a0collect 80,000 raw signatures within months<\/a>, though they needed 160,199 valid signatures to qualify.<\/p>\n A different campaign, Fair Access Missouri, is\u00a0separately exploring multiple citizen initiatives<\/a>\u00a0with the hopes of getting at least one on the ballot next year. Three of the four would create a system of legalized cannabis sales for adults 21 and older, while another would simply amend the state\u2019s existing medical marijuana program.<\/p>\n Another state lawmaker filed a bill in January to decriminalize a range of drugs<\/a>\u00a0including marijuana, psilocybin, LSD, MDMA and cocaine.<\/p>\n The measure\u2019s introduction came after a Republican Missouri legislator filed a separate bill to give residents with serious illnesses\u00a0legal access to a range of psychedelic drugs<\/a>\u00a0like psilocybin, ibogaine and LSD through an expanded version of the state\u2019s existing right-to-try law.<\/p>\n Nearly one out of every 10 jobs that were created in Missouri last year\u00a0came from the state\u2019s medical marijuana industry<\/a>, according to an analysis of state labor data that was released by a trade group earlier this month.<\/p>\n Separately, there\u2019s some\u00a0legislative drama playing out in the state<\/a>\u00a0over a proposal that advocates say would restrict their ability to place Constitutional amendments on the ballot.<\/p>\n Just last week, the Illinois House of Representatives passed legislation to\u00a0protect workers from being fired for using cannabis<\/a>\u00a0in their free time, with some exceptions.<\/p>\n Also last week, a Washington, D.C. Council committee unanimously approved a bill to ban most workplaces from\u00a0subjecting job applicants to pre-employment marijuana testing<\/a>. It would expand on previous legislation the D.C. Council approved to protect local government employees against\u00a0workplace discrimination due to their use of medical cannabis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Following the enactment of adult-use legalization in New York, the state Department of Labor announced a policy change barring most employers from\u00a0drug testing certain workers for marijuana<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the federal level, House appropriations legislation and attached reports\u00a0passed by the House last year<\/a>\u00a0directed federal government agencies to\u00a0reconsider policies that fire employees for using cannabis<\/a> in compliance with state law. But that provision was not included in the omnibus package approved by the House on Wednesday.<\/p>\n The White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently issued a memo to federal agencies that says admitting to past marijuana use\u00a0should not automatically disqualify people<\/a>\u00a0from being employed in the federal government.<\/p>\n Last month, a\u00a0top Wells Fargo analyst says that there\u2019s one main reason for rising costs and worker shortages in the transportation sector: federal marijuana criminalization and\u00a0resulting drug testing mandates<\/a>\u00a0that persist even as more states enact legalization.<\/p>\n In January, a coalition of more than two dozen congressional Democrats filed bill on promoting workplace investment to combat climate change, and they want to boost the workforce nationwide by\u00a0protecting people in legal marijuana states<\/a>\u00a0from being penalized due to federal drug testing policies.<\/p>\n Washington State Ballot Initiative Would Legalize \u2018Facilitated\u2019 Psilocybin Sessions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post St. Louis County Lawmakers Vote To End Marijuana Testing For Most County Workers As State Moves To Legalize<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As Missouri lawmakers work to advance marijuana legalization in the state, the St. Louis County Council on Tuesday approved a bill to ban pre-employment and random drug testing for cannabis for most county workers. The move would build on\u00a0broader local actions to decriminalize cannabis possession and cultivation in the cityContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":53454,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53453"}],"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\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53455,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53453\/revisions\/53455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\n\u2014<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\nNow back to drug testing policy reform in the era of legalization.<\/h3>\n
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\nRead More: St. Louis County Lawmakers Vote To End Marijuana Testing For Most County Workers As State Moves To Legalize<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"