Massachusetts: Pot Law Could Snuff Out Testing Policy

[Binky]

A voter-approved law reducing possession of small amounts of marijuana to a civil offense threatens to unravel drug testing of police and other public employees, the Herald has learned.

The law, which goes into effect Jan. 2, prohibits government agencies and authorities from enforcing any punishment for pot possession with a fine greater than $100, according to the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association, and defines possession so broadly as to include traces of pot in blood to urine to hair and fingernails.

“This very much threatens to undermine our ability to do the drug testing we do,” said Jack Collins, an attorney for the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association.

Collins is calling for police departments to stop drug testing certain employees until the Legislature can explicitly allow public employees who fail drug tests to be punished. Without swift action, police departments and other agencies face lawsuits from unions protecting their members, Collins said.

“At this point, it looks like a violation of their rights, and then there’d be a lawsuit and it would cost thousands of dollars,” he warned.

Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless predicted the new law has far-reaching consequences for even school bus drivers and MBTA train operators, who could point to the law and say they can only be fined, not fired, for marijuana offenses.

“People given the critical job of looking after children or the general public, there’s a greater risk now they could be high,” Capeless warned.

Concerns about the viability of punishing people for flunking drug tests follow news reports of drug use by public workers. The Herald found that 77 MBTA employees have failed substance-abuse tests over the past three years.

A task force set up by Public Safety Secretary Kevin Burke is examining the implications of the new law and how it will be enforced. Burke’s office is expected to provide answers to questions of drug testing by year’s end.

Meanwhile, the Boston Police Department plans to continue drug testing regardless of any uncertainty, said Elaine Driscoll. “Enforcing our drug policies is non-negotiable,” Driscoll said.

Boston Herald
Edward Mason
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Website: http://www.bostonherald.com/
Contact: letterstoeditor@bostonherald.com

[Buffalocannabis]

Drug testing policy for cannabis is a waste of money and time in most cases.

[The Crusader]

This is a good thing, because the tests will have to be improved to show drug use while on the job, not drug use 2 or 3 weeks ago. I still think drug testing should be mandatory, for high risk positions, if they can prove impairment while on the job, but an officer should have the right to consume cannabis and or alcohol while off duty. This common sense law will force the powers to be, to come up with a testing policy that is rational and applicable to the many different scenarios. Let's hope they get to work on it, instead of saying we have to go back to complete prohibition, for the safety of the masses.

[AudioWorks]

I still think drug testing should be mandatory, for high risk positions, if they can prove impairment while on the job, but an officer should have the right to consume cannabis and or alcohol while off duty.

What a strange idea...just a few people have rights... We will know who they are by the fact that they will have "more rights" simply because they SAY THEY DO! This is just more of the same old crap our politicians have brain-washed us into believing. Drug testing is BIG BUSINESS...we don't want these poor people who's job it is to stick their heads up our a88 to loose their jobs...they may enjoy their "work"!