{"id":117402,"date":"2014-10-02T21:17:01","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T03:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/disabled-pot-user-seeks-protection\/"},"modified":"2014-10-02T21:17:01","modified_gmt":"2014-10-03T03:17:01","slug":"disabled-pot-user-seeks-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/disabled-pot-user-seeks-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"Disabled pot user seeks protection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Brandon
Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic medical marijuana patient who was fired by the Dish Network after failing a drug test more than four years ago, right, waits for the proceedings to begin with his mother, Donna Scharfenberg, at the Colorado Supreme Court in Denver on Tuesday, Sept. 30.<\/span>The Denver Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A quadriplegic man terminated from his job for medical marijuana use presented his case to the Colorado Supreme Court this week.<\/p>\n

Six justices heard oral arguments in the case during an hour-long proceeding at the Ralph Carr Judicial Complex in Denver on Tuesday, Sept. 30. Brandon Coats filed the lawsuit after he was fired as a telephone customer service representative at Dish Network in 2010. Despite a lack of any evidence that he was impaired, Coats was immediately terminated after testing positive for cannabis during a random drug test.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not arguing that (marijuana use) is a constitutional right, but we do argue that it is a lawful activity,\u201d his attorney, Michael Evans, told justices on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

A quadriplegic who suffers from seizures and spasms, Coats is a registered medical marijuana patient under Colorado law.<\/p>\n

Evans said his client was never reprimanded during his three-year employment with Dish Network, or accused of being under the influence of marijuana while on the job.<\/p>\n

Questioned by Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs whether Dish Network had a zero-tolerance drug policy, Evans said a lower court found the company\u2019s policy was \u201cwanting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not using marijuana at work,\u201d said Evans.<\/p>\n

Under Colorado\u2019s Medical Marijuana Act, Evans argued the statute was state specific, and therefore not subject to interpretation and enforcement by federal law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is truly a unique situation,\u201d said Evans.<\/p>\n

Meghan Martinez reminded justices that her client, Dish Network, neither wanted the court to endorse nor indict the state\u2019s medical marijuana law. She said the company had a simple zero-tolerance drug policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe smoked marijuana while at home, then crossed the threshold when he came to work,\u201d said Martinez.<\/p>\n

Martinez maintained that since Coats tested positive for THC at work, then he was under the influence of marijuana while on the job. She said company policy bars employees from appearing at work with prohibited substances.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if he\u2019s impaired or not,\u201d said Martinez. \u201cIt\u2019s a violation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez further explained there were no provisions under the Medical Marijuana Act that required employers to accommodate registered medical marijuana patients.<\/p>\n

She added marijuana remained illegal under federal guidelines; therefore, it must remain outlawed in Colorado.<\/p>\n

Representing the state, Michael Francisco reiterated Martinez federal prohibition argument to justices, citing the case should easily be resolved. He added it would be absurd to hold employers responsible for employees who violate federal law.<\/p>\n

Two lower courts have upheld Coats\u2019 dismissal based on the premise that marijuana is illegal under federal law.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Supreme Court has taken the lawsuit under advisement. The ultimate issues at stake is the ambiguous definition of \u201clawful,\u201d and whether medical marijuana patients should be protected under state law.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s oral arguments were live-streamed on the Internet.<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

hears case of fired worker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":117403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-117402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117402"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=117402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}