Medical Marijuana in Massachusetts

Massachusetts’ highest court has ruled that terminating an employee for off -duty medical marijuana use may violate the employee’s rights under the state’s disability discrimination and medical marijuana laws.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court first issued its ruling in Barbuto v. Advantage Sales and Marketing on July 17, 2017. Because of that, the decision does not require employers to always permit off-duty medical marijuana use. Rather, employers may need to allow the use of it in certain circumstances.The decision differs from other state courts, which have held that employers can have zero-tolerance drug use policies.

First read the PDF to gain more of an understanding of Barbuto V. Advantage Sales and Marketing, Then reach out to your own company for questions or concerns. You have other resources available to you as well. Take a look at state resources such as the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. You can also read more about the Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Act (MMMA) enacted in 2012. This act is to protect individuals who are diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition for using doctor-prescribed marijuana.

For more information download the Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Law – Off-duty Use PDF.