> By Stephanie Armour, USA TODAY
>
> On a typical weekday, stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld has a marijuana
> cigarette before work, then goes to his firm's smoking area for
> another after he gets to the office. By day's end, he usually has
> smoked more than a half-dozen joints - and handled millions of
> dollars' in clients' holdings.
>
> There's nothing illegal about it. Rosenfeld, 54, of Fort Lauderdale,
> has a condition that causes benign tumors in the long bones of his
> body. After trying to control pain by taking narcotics such as
> Dilaudid, he persuaded the U.S. government to put him in a test
> program that gives marijuana to people with certain illnesses. His
> pain is now manageable, he says.
>
> "I've smoked 10 to 12 marijuana cigarettes a day for 25 years," says
> Rosenfeld, adding he gets no euphoric effect from the drug. "All my
> clients know I use it. Without it, I wouldn't be able to work." His
> firm, Newbridge Securities, supports his use of marijuana and says it
> hasn't hurt his performance.
>
> In Florida, Rosenfeld is an exception to state law that bans
> marijuana's use in any situation. But at a time when the use of
> medical marijuana is expanding - this month, New Mexico became the
> 12th state to allow it - the issue is raising a range of ethical and
> liability questions for employers across the nation.
>
> Some companies, wary of marijuana's impact on employee performance,
> continue to fire those who test positive for the drug, even when its
> use is sanctioned by their state for medical purposes.
>
> Those companies include Columbia Forest Products, a manufacturer of
> hardwoods based in Oregon, one of the states that allows medical
> marijuana. Even as the company maintains its zero-tolerance policy
> toward drug use, it has faced legal action because its company rules
> conflict with Oregon's medical marijuana law.
>
> A few companies, such as Newbridge Securities, have embraced the
> notion of employees using medical marijuana at work.
>
> Meanwhile, there are questions about whether medical marijuana laws
> would offer any protection to employers if a worker who used marijuana
> to treat pain ended up injuring others or making a mistake on the job.
> It's unclear whether such an incident has occurred.
>
> "The rights of an employer to ensure productivity and safety around
> machinery and on the job has to take precedence," says Mark Levitt, a
> labor and employment lawyer in Tampa. "The use of marijuana has an
> effect on employees' ability to perform. That's a big concern for
> employers."
>
> Drug's effectiveness debated
>
> Marijuana's effectiveness as a pain reliever is widely debated, and
> the Food and Drug Administration has not approved it for medical use.
> It's used by patients with a variety of ailments, including cancer,
> glaucoma, AIDS or HIV, Crohn's disease, hepatitis C and multiple
> sclerosis, says the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.-based
> non-profit organization that supports easing restrictions on the drug.
>
> The FDA considers marijuana a controlled substance with a very high
> potential for abuse and says that the drug has no accepted medical use
> and that there is a lack of accepted safety data for use under medical
> supervision. The American Medical Association doesn't support
> marijuana's medical use but has urged further studies on its
> effectiveness.
>
> Some doctors, however, see a treatment role for the drug.
>
> Donald Abrams, chief of hematology and oncology at San Francisco
> General Hospital, said in an e-mail: "As a cancer doctor, every day I
> see patients with nausea from their chemotherapy, loss of appetite,
> pain and depression. As I am a physician in California," which allows
> medical marijuana, "I can advise these patients that they might
> consider trying marijuana for relief of all of these symptoms."
>
> Abrams says the key ingredient in marijuana, THC, is available in pill
> form. But he says smoking marijuana is more effective because it leads
> to a more potent concentration of the drug in a user's system. He says
> it's unusual for patients to smoke as much as Rosenfeld, but the drug
> supplied by the U.S. government has relatively low potency.
>
> He also says marijuana smoking is associated with a lower risk of
> developing lung cancer. Marijuana costs $35 to $75 for 1/8 of an
> ounce, according to Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a non-profit
> based in Oakland, that has pushed for greater acceptance of medical
> marijuana. Still, most patients must pay for their own marijuana
> because it usually is not covered by medical insurance.
>
> 'Screaming for answers'
>
> An estimated 300,000 people in the USA use medical marijuana, based on
> estimates from data on registered medical users from ASA.
>
> As the number of states allowing its use increases, employers are
> starting to grapple with how to deal with the issue. Few disputes
> about medical marijuana's impact on the workplace have made it to
> court, but many employers say they would have concerns if a worker
> needed marijuana treatments.
>
> Although Oregon is among the states allowing medical marijuana, Hunter-
> Davisson, a mechanical contracting firm in Portland, maintains a drug-
> free policy, conducts drug tests and says it would not allow an
> employee to use the drug as a pain reliever.
>
> "To let anyone work impaired is not anything you would want to be
> responsible for," says Dave McCotter, safety manager at Hunter. "We
> couldn't have them driving our trucks."
>
> Even in New York and other states that do not allow medical marijuana,
> companies are beginning to debate the issue.
>
> Melek Pulatkonak, president and chief operating officer of Hakia, a
> fledgling Internet search engine company in New York City, says that
> "our concern would be: How does an employee (using medical marijuana)
> really focus? We would have to be sure their mind is clear."
>
> Pulatkonak says the company might consider flexible work hours to
> accommodate an employee's marijuana use in such an instance.
>
> None of the states with medical marijuana laws requires employers to
> make accommodations for the use of the drug in the workplace, says
> Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project.
>
> Yet, there are legal gray areas for companies, say employment lawyers
> such as Richard Meneghello of Portland, Ore., who does seminars for
> companies on the topic.
>
> He says many employers remain uncertain about whether they can fire or
> deny employment to users of medical marijuana, or whether to
> accommodate them by allowing use only at home or in an area at work
> where they can smoke.
>
> "It's almost an untenable situation. Employers are screaming for
> answers," Meneghello says. "We know they're looking for clear answers,
> and there's not one out there right now. There's a lot of uncertainty.
> Employers are living in a dangerous situation."
>
> Medical users rarely prosecuted
>
> Efforts to legalize the use of marijuana for medical reasons gained
> momentum in the 1980s as the AIDS epidemic took hold, and AIDS-related
> organizations pushed governments to allow the drug to be used to
> alleviate symptoms such as loss of appetite.
>
> In 1996, California passed a ballot initiative legalizing marijuana's
> use for some medical reasons. Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine,
> Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and
> Washington state have adopted similar legislation.
>
> Residents with state permits to grow or use medical marijuana
> typically are given cards identifying them as participants in such
> programs. New Mexico's law, which takes effect July 1, will let
> residents use medical marijuana for ailments such as cancer and HIV/
> AIDS. The marijuana would be provided by the state Health Department.
>
> In 1978, the U.S. government began a trial distribution program to up
> to 13 patients with various medical ailments. The program was closed
> to new participants in 1992. Rosenfeld, an outspoken supporter of
> using medical marijuana in the workplace, gets marijuana legally from
> the federal government as one of five remaining participants in the
> program.
>
> In some states with medical marijuana laws, the drug is available at
> special dispensaries. Others use authorized caregivers to grow a
> limited number of marijuana plants. Some patients have obtained their
> marijuana on the black market, according to the Marijuana Policy
> Project.
>
> Federal law continues to ban marijuana use for any reason. It's rare
> that medical marijuana users are prosecuted, but those licensed by
> states to grow or use marijuana for medical purposes still can be
> arrested by federal officials, a conflict in the law that has led to
> legal wrangling and confusion.
>
> Patients usually aren't drawn into the fray, but a three-judge panel
> of the U.S. Court of Appeals in California ruled in March that Angel
> Raich, who uses marijuana with a doctor's approval because of a
> terminal brain tumor and ailments, isn't immune from federal
> prosecution. She sued the U.S. government pre-emptively to try to
> eliminate concerns of being arrested.
>
> 'There is a stigma to it'
>
> Rosenfeld's employer, Newbridge Securities, is resolute in its support
> of his on-the-job use of medical marijuana. Company officials say they
> aren't concerned about legal liability issues because they say
> Rosenfeld's use of the drug doesn't have an impact on his ability to
> work. He also discloses to every client that he uses the drug.
>
> "He's a quality stockbroker, and he does a great job," says Phillip
> Semenick, executive vice president and branch manager. "But there is a
> stigma to it. Some people are going to look at it and say, 'Here's a
> guy smoking pot at work? How can he do that?' "
> Rosenfeld's marijuana use also has led to moments that Semenick and
> Rosenfeld have found comical. Marijuana "has a distinct smell,"
> Semenick says. "The mailman or someone coming into the building will
> stop and notice." He adds that the company is not concerned about how
> the smell of marijuana in its office might affect its image.
>
> Rosenfeld says he has been pulled over by state police when he was
> carrying marijuana, but showed officers his federal paperwork to
> explain his situation.
>
> Other employers haven't been as flexible when workers have used
> medical marijuana.
>
> In 2001, Columbia Forest Products fired millwright Robert Washburn
> after he repeatedly failed urine tests for drug use. He was enrolled
> in a state medical marijuana program to try to manage his leg spasms.
> "He was never impaired at work," says Philip Lebenbaum in Portland,
> who was Washburn's attorney when he sued the company over the firing.
>
> But the company argued that Washburn's use of medical marijuana
> violated its drug policy, even though Washburn had not used the drug
> on the job. Oregon's Supreme Court ruled last year that Columbia did
> not have to accommodate Washburn's off-duty marijuana use because he
> was not disabled.
>
> Scott Seidman, a Portland lawyer who represented Columbia, says the
> company had to maintain its drug-free workplace policy because it is a
> federal contractor. "They felt obligated also for safety reasons,"
> Seidman says.
>
> Like Rosenfeld, other users of medical marijuana have found support
> from their employers.
>
> Joseph Kintzel, 41, of Golden, Colo., is a respiratory therapist who
> evaluates and treats patients. He has his own business but also works
> for medical organizations that are aware of his use of medicinal
> marijuana for back problems.
>
> Kintzel says he had four back surgeries for 10 herniated discs in 1996
> and 1997, and has 32 pieces of titanium holding his spine together. He
> still has painful muscle spasms. Kintzel says that in 2000, after
> trying painkillers such as morphine, Percocet and Vicodin and being
> out of work for two years, he used marijuana bought on the black
> market. He says it was a more effective pain reliever.
>
> In 2002, after getting a doctor's authorization, he began using
> marijuana regularly. Within six weeks, Kintzel says, he was off the
> narcotics and began riding a bike. A few months later, he was back at
> work. He says he gets no euphoric effect from marijuana.
>
> A state-authorized caregiver now provides him with the drug. Like
> other registered medical marijuana users in Colorado and elsewhere,
> Kintzel carries a card that identifies him as an authorized user.
> Insurance doesn't cover his marijuana costs, Kintzel says, so he buys
> about an ounce at a time, which lasts for 10 days. An ounce costs $200
> to $250.
>
> Kintzel, a married father of two boys, says the use of medical
> marijuana has helped, not impaired, his ability to work. "I work 60 to
> 65 hours a week," he says. "I've had one sick day in the last four
> years."
>
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>