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"FORTUNE &amp;#8212; Statutes passed last November in Colorado and Washington state seem straightforward enough: Anyone over 21 can possess up to an ounce of marijuana without facing any penalty. Simple, right? Unfortunately, not for employers, nor for weed aficionados who mistakenly think their jobs are safe.\nNow that 18 states and the District of Columbia have legalized pot (and at least seven more are considering doing so), in most places for medical use only, a patchwork of different state laws clash with federal drug laws and raise questions about how to comply with other federal statutes like the Americans with Disabilities Act. One issue out of the many now giving employers a big headache: How do you maintain a drug-free workplace in a state where workers have the legal right to use a recreational drug in their spare time?\nThe question might be moot if THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, metabolized as fast as, say, alcohol does. \u201CSomeone who had a few drinks over the weekend can probably still pass a random drug test on Monday morning,\u201D notes Danielle Urban, a partner in the Denver office of employment law firm Fisher &amp;amp; Phillips. \u201CBut THC can stay in the bloodstream for up to six weeks.\u201D So even an occasional toke can cost a worker his or her job &amp;#8212; even in a state like Colorado that has a \u201Clawful activity\u201D statute designed to protect employees from being fired for off-the-job activity.\nMORE: The big business of Marijuana, Inc.\nThe case of Coats v. Dish Network, closely watched by lawyers all over the U.S., illustrates this conundrum. Paralyzed in a car crash while still in his teens, Dish Network \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDISH\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t phone operator Brandon Coats had been a legal medical-marijuana user since 2009. Nonetheless, Dish Network, which has a zero-tolerance drug policy, fired him in 2010 after he flunked a random drug test, even though the company acknowledged that he was never \u201Cimpaired\u201D while at work.\nCoats sued Dish, and he lost. The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled in late April that because the federal Controlled Substances Act still prohibits marijuana use, Colorado\u2019s \u201Clawful activity\u201D statute didn\u2019t apply. The decision echoed that of a Michigan judge in another case last fall, Casias v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., where Wal-Mart \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\twmt\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t had fired an employee who legally used medical marijuana to treat pain from an inoperable brain tumor. In the resulting lawsuit, Wal-Mart prevailed.\nWith the courts on their side (so far, anyway), you\u2019d think employers would be relieved but, actually, not so much. For one thing, confusion reigns over how legalized medical marijuana squares with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires employers to make \u201Creasonable accommodation\u201D for employees\u2019 medical problems. Then there&amp;#8217;s the Family Medical Leave Act, which some observers have interpreted to mean that companies have to give people time off if they\u2019re being treated by a physician with any substance that would cause them to fail a mandatory drug test.\nNot complicated enough yet? Throw in states like Arizona, which has passed a law that says people who do not hold \u201Csafety sensitive\u201D jobs (an airline pilot, for instance) are safeguarded from being fired for using medical marijuana. Then consider that federal contractors, transportation companies, and some other employers are required by federal law to enforce a zero-tolerance drug policy, no matter which states they operate in. Even companies in other industries that choose to adopt more lenient policies (or none at all) can run afoul of federal OSHA workplace-safety rules.\nAdd to all that some employers\u2019 own ambivalence about pot. \u201CAt a lot of companies where there isn\u2019t a real public-safety issue, they just don\u2019t do drug testing at all, because they don\u2019t want to know, and they don\u2019t want to have to fire people over [marijuana],\u201D notes Urban. \u201CI\u2019ve had clients say to me, \u2018If I got rid of everyone who works for me who smokes weed now and then, I\u2019d have nobody left.\u2019\u201D\nA few weeks ago, in an effort to clear up at least some of the legal fog, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California, introduced H.R. 1523, dubbed the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2013. The bill would amend the federal Controlled Substances Act to exempt medical users from penalties in states where medical use is legal. It has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill &amp;#8212; it&amp;#8217;s backed by two other Republicans, besides its author, and three Democrats &amp;#8212; but, according to a nonprofit research and advocacy group called the Marijuana Policy Project, the measure is &amp;#8220;unlikely to pass this year.&amp;#8221;\nMORE: Yes we cannabis\nIn the meantime, Urban has a few words of advice for beleaguered employers and the people who work for them. \u201CFirst, it is essential that companies make very clear what their drug policies are,\u201D she says. \u201CIf you\u2019re going to have a zero-tolerance policy, and you\u2019re going to do random drug testing and terminate anyone who doesn\u2019t pass &amp;#8212; even if they\u2019re using marijuana for medical reasons &amp;#8212; you have to make sure all of your employees know that up front. Don\u2019t wait until someone flunks a drug test and gets fired.\u201D\nAt the same time, Urban urges employees to know what their employers\u2019 policies are. \u201CIf they don\u2019t tell you, go and ask,\u201D she suggests. &amp;#8220;If your job is in a zero-tolerance workplace and you&amp;#8217;re using medical marijuana, have a discussion with someone in HR about it.&amp;#8221; As the law stands now, if there really is no effective treatment besides pot for your medical condition, &amp;#8220;you and your employer may have to part ways.&amp;#8221;\nUrban also suggests that everyone study up on exactly what their states&amp;#8217; marijuana laws actually say. The air on the sidewalk outside her office building in downtown Denver is thick with smoke from substances other than tobacco, she observes, but \u201Ceven in Colorado, it\u2019s not legal to smoke grass in public. You can still be prosecuted. People don\u2019t understand the law. They hear, \u2018It\u2019s legal,\u2019 and they go crazy.\u201D"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://fortune.com/2013/05/09/smoking-legalized-marijuana-can-still-get-you-fired/?iid=SF_F_River/>