Today the Arizona Department of Health released the new rules for the medical marijuana program in Arizona. The new rules for the Arizona medical marijuana program have been altered to benefit medical marijuana patients since the last draft was issued. A copy of the new Arizona Medical Marijuana Rules can be found here. Some very good protections are provided to patients under the new rules, where other states have miserably failed. The Arizona medical marijuana rules allow protections from employers, (as long as use is not done during work hours), and landlords. Although it will be debatable for some, at just how much use while performing certain jobs would actually interfere with performance, it is a start. This is an important step, as there is a case in Michigan where a full time employee of Walmart with a brain cancer tumor was terminated for his use of medical marijuana as allowed by Michigan law. The employee, Joseph Casias, was a dependable employee who never used marijuana on the job, and received an employee of the year award. The ACLU is defending Mr. Casias, in what is becoming a long drawn out battle, for a brain cancer patient already struggling to survive, and at the same time provide for his family. Arizona is to be commended for providing a safe haven to patients under similar circumstances. The rules more specifically states that it is illegal to discriminate against a medical marijuana patient, as long as it does not put the employer or landlord in violation of any Federal programs they are a party to.
