Michigan policymakers are considering major changes to the state’s drug-testing policy, particularly with regard to cannabis use.
The potential changes come more than four years after voters there approved a ballot legalizing the use of recreational utensils for adults 21 or older.
in letter The state Civil Service Commission, which earlier this month sent to human resources staff, has requested public comment as it considers various amendments to Michigan’s policy.
“Recent years have seen changes across the country in state laws regulating controlled substances. Michigan voters legalized medical marijuana use in 2008 and adult recreational use in 2018,” read the letter, which was sent May 12. In light of these changes Commissioners Distributed Request for Public Comment on Potential Bylaw Amendments to End Employment Testing Requirements for Marijuana for Classified Employees Hired in Non-Probable Positions Termination of Pre-Employment Testing for Marijuana Will Not Affect the Availability of Reasonable Suspicion or Follow-up Testing for Marijuana for Classified Employees, Including Candidates Who Become employees “.
The letter explains how collective bargaining agreements in the late 1990s added provisions allowing similar reasonable suspicion, follow-up, random selection, and post-incident drug testing for exclusively represented employees. Federal law also requires pre-employment testing and employee testing for certain testing situations to operate certain vehicles.”
The 1998 directive directed the state director of personnel to determine the drug levels prohibited in the regulations. Those regulations—and collective bargaining agreements—called for testing under procedures set forth by federal law. While the regulations technically allow agencies to request approval to test any Schedule 1 drug Or 2 of the state’s Public Health Code, the default testing protocol the state has used since 1998 has tested for five classes of drugs: marijuana, cocaine, opioids, amphetamines, and phencyclidine,” the letter reads.
The letter also noted that since the new cannabis law went into effect in December of 2018, “nearly 350 applicants for clandestine jobs have tested positive for marijuana in a pre-employment test.”
Under current Michigan rules, these applicants are barred from applying for another job with the state for three years.
While many of these penalties have since fallen, a few hundred still apply. The commission could adopt rule language that would allow amnesty by eliminating ongoing penalties based on pre-employment drug testing for an unassigned test position with a positive result for marijuana. The letter said that such a measure would not lead to the employment of these candidates but would allow them to apply for secret jobs instead of waiting for three years after being punished.
As states lift their long-standing bans on recreational pot use, lawmakers and regulators have recalibrated drug-testing policies to bring them in line with new cannabis laws.
Earlier this month, Washington Governor Jay Inslee I signed a bill That will provide protection for employees from cannabis testing.
The legislation states that “it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person in an initial employment appointment if the discrimination is based on: (a) the person’s use of cannabis outside of work and away from the workplace; or (b) a drug screening test requested by the employer that is found to be A person has non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites in their hair, blood, urine, or other bodily fluids.”
Professional sports leagues followed suit. A new collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and its players that settled last month will remove cannabis from the list of banned substances. The new deal will also allow players to promote and invest in cannabis companies.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has telegraphed the fix through 2020.
“We decided, given all the things that were going on in the community, given all the stress and tension the players were under, that we didn’t need to act like Big Brother right now,” Silver said at the time. “I think society’s opinions about marijuana [have] changed to a certain extent.”
