Rossi: Should a Princeton employee lose his job over medical marijuana? [POLL]

Consider the case of Don DeZarn.

He’s an East Windsor resident and employee of Princeton University who’s been told by his superiors that he’d lose his job if he continued to use medical marijuana to relieve his symptoms of Inflammatory Bowl Disease and PTSD – even if he used the drug at home.

Princeton University has a policy in place promoting a drug free work environment. And under the provisions of the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, employers aren’t required to allow workers to use the drug in the workplace.

Read that again: employers aren’t required to allow workers to use the drug IN the workplace.

However it doesn’t state what they can or cannot do while on their time away from the workplace - especially if they have a valid prescription to use the drug.

Sounds like the making of a lawsuit to me – doesn’t it?
So now what to do?

The university spokespeople have said they’re trying to come up with a way to accommodate DeZarn under the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

I wonder how Princeton would feel about workers using much stronger drugs such as opiates – and how they’d feel were those workers were to come to work feeling the effects of the drug(s)?

It does make it seem absurd that a supposed “liberal” institution like Princeton would ban the use of medical marijuana under any circumstances.

I might be able to wrap my brain around the policy stating that one should not using the drugs while at work.

I say: “might be!”

However, is the use of medical marijuana on one’s own time any more heinous than the use of an opiate?
You be the judge!