420 with CNW — Michigan Officials Consider Scrap
Post# of 527
Officials in the state of Michigan are considering putting an end to drug testing for cannabis for job applicants of certain government positions. Last week, the state’s Civil Service Commission put forward some amendments to the government’s code of employment on Friday and opened a public comment period on the pair of policies.
This comes after the country’s largest union that represents federal employees adopted an initiative in support of cannabis legalization in 2022, and demanded that policies which penalized federal workers who use marijuana responsibly while they’re off the clock in legal states be repealed.
Commentary from the public may be emailed to MCSC-OGC@mi.gov and has to be submitted to the commission no later than June 23rd.
The first amendment will change the current code, which states that agencies must test applicants for marijuana and other substances. The code will be amended to highlight that drug testing will not be required for new hires who are to fill positions that aren’t test-designated. The current regulations also ban individuals who test positive for marijuana during the application process from applying to other state agencies, in addition to revoking their conditional offers.
Under the new regulation, individuals who currently have active sanctions based on a positive result for cannabis from a test done during the application process for nontest‐designated positions may request that their sanctions be rescinded.
The state of Michigan legalized the medical use of cannabis in 2008 and the recreational use of the drug a decade later.
This isn’t the only state looking into drug testing policies either. Last week, Governor Jay Inslee of Washington state signed a measure into law that protects workers from being discriminated against during the hiring process over their legal use of cannabis. Washington joins Nevada, which has also prohibited employment discrimination for testing positive for cannabis. Other states, including New York and California, offer broader employment protections for adults who lawfully use marijuana away from work and during their off-hours.
Some agencies are also following suit, with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives recently updating its employment policy.
The updates make it so that applicants who have sold, manufactured or cultivated cannabis in compliance with state laws will not be automatically disqualified during the hiring process. However, those who engaged in these activities while violating state marijuana policies will not be considered.
Additionally, the Secret Service recently loosened restrictions on the previous use of cannabis by prospective agents.
Ending pre-employment cannabis testing could go a long way in getting people to feel freer to use marijuana for medical or recreational purposes. That, in turn, may boost demand for marijuana, thereby triggering a cascading wave of opportunities for even ancillary enterprises such as Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX) whose focus is on availing the supplies, such as indoor cultivation equipment, which marijuana companies need to thrive.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Advanced Container Technologies Inc. (OTC: ACTX) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/ACTX
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CannabisNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by CNW420, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer