As Virginia lawmakers prepare to resume efforts to legalize adult-use marijuana sales in next year’s legislative session, state officials have released guidance on a recently enacted law that provides employment protections for workers who use cannabis while off duty.
Virginia has a medical cannabis program—and recreational use and personal cultivation were legalized in 2021, but there’s not currently a system of regulated sales for recreational use. While legislators have already taken steps to enact further reforms to allow marijuana sales from licensed retailers, with a legislative commission putting forward a framework last week in hopes of advancing the issue in 2026, the Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) published a new document outlining workplace protections for cannabis consumers.
The guidance states that employers “should not take employment actions, including discipline or termination of employment, against an employee based upon the presence of cannabinoid metabolites in the individual’s bodily fluids in an employer-required or requested drug test without additional factors indicating impairment…unless the employer has established a drug free workplace based on its reasonable workplace drug policy.”
For medical cannabis patients specifically, the guidance from DOLI’s Virginia Occupational Safety and Health program stipulates that no employers may “discharge, discipline, or discriminate
Read full article on Marijuana Moment
