Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana. This week, we see there’s a controversy over cannabis use and gun ownership by police officers in Jersey City, New Jersey. We provide an update on the Alabama medical marijuana licensing situation. We note that New Hampshire’s proposal for cannabis sales may run afoul of federal law. And finally, it’s Snoop Dogg’s birthday.Continue Reading The Week in Weed: October 27, 2023

On May 25, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted an employer’s motion to dismiss a putative class action in Zanetich v. Wal-Mart Stores E., Inc.  Addressing an issue of first impression, the Court held that job applicants do not have a private right of action under the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (the “CREAMMA”), the state’s recreational marijuana law.  The Court also held that there is no common law claim for wrongful failure to hire in violation of public policy in New Jersey. Continue Reading Failure to Hire Claims Go Up In Smoke for Pot-Using New Jersey Job Applicant

Welcome back to The Year In Weed, our annual roundup of cannabis-related stories.  As usual, we’ll adopt Dave Barry’s Year in Review format and look at stories month by month.  Last year, I hoped 2022 would provide some answers to the questions of 2021 and predicted we’d spend much of the year discussing ballot initiatives. Was I right? Well, you tell me…Continue Reading The Year in Weed: 2022 Edition

As previously reported here, on February 22, 2021, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed the “New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act” (CREAMMA), which amended the New Jersey Constitution to legalize recreational cannabis.

The law allows employers to conduct numerous forms of drug testing for cannabis, but limits an employer’s ability to rely on a positive cannabis test result in making employment decisions. It requires that a drug test include both “scientifically reliable objective testing methods and procedures, such as testing of blood, urine, or saliva” and a “physical evaluation.” The “physical evaluation” must be conducted by an individual certified to provide an opinion about an employee’s state of impairment, or lack of impairment, related to the use of cannabis. The law tasked the Cannabis Regulatory Commission with adopting standards for this “Workplace Impairment Recognition Expert” (WIRE), who must be trained to detect and identify an employee’s use or impairment from cannabis or other intoxicating substances and to assist in the investigation of workplace accidents.Continue Reading New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission Issues Guidance on “Workplace Impairment” Determinations

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana.

This week, the House of Representatives moves closer to voting on the MORE Act.  Meanwhile, in the Senate, a bill on cannabis research makes its way through the process.  In state news, New Jersey’s dispensary licenses and sales bring controversy.  On
Continue Reading The Week in Weed: April 1, 2022

As previously reported here, on February 22, 2021, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed A21, the “New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act” (CREAMMA), which is enabling legislation for the amendment to the New Jersey Constitution making lawful the recreational use of marijuana in the state.

While the new law, among other things, allows employers to
Continue Reading New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission’s “Personal Use Cannabis Rules” Do Not Provide Guidance About Employer Drug Testing Practices