RN with medical marijuana card

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Long time lurker here.

So I have cancer. Papillary Carcinoma of my Thyroid. Diagnosed in 2011. I have one RAI treatment left to use and I am saving that in case it spreads to my bone, lung or brain. Had multiple surgeries on my neck. I now have what my surgeon calls a Chernobyl Necklace. I still have cancer in my neck. This is a strictly surgical disease at this instance, but since tumor is extremely close to my larengeal nerve, surgeon will not operate on it unless it gets larger.

Enter Cannabis Oil.

Studies have shown tumor reduction with the use of topical cannabis oil in my type of cancer.

If I have a medical card, FROM a DOCTOR, would the BON of PA still revoke my license?

youenjoymyself said:
You're right. I am pretty sure I answered my own question, though. BON wouldn't ever know.

Until you get injured on the job and have to take a UDS. Or someone at work outs you and the "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" agreement you have with your management/owners is made public and you have to take a UDS. Or you piss off one of the managers/owners and they retaliate by making you take a UDS. Do you see where this is going? Look, we all sympathize with your situation and I'd bet most of us agree that MJ should be allowed but that doesn't change the fact that there is no state's BON that accepts it and you would be playing fast and loose with your license at this point in time. If you're willing to risk it then by all means do but you've been warned so you'll likely not get much sympathy if you end up in front of the board. Sorry for the crummy situation you're in.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

I would look for a nursing job outside the hospital where drug testing is not common.

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

I appreciate your sense of humor about your cancer, and I hope that you continue to have an uneventful and stable recovery.

If you are choosing the CBO and you pop positive then yes, the BON will do something. If you have an agreement with your employer make sure that's ironclad and in writing. I've never had to drug test here but the specter is there and of course, if there's a mistake or an injury they'll test me in a hot minute.

You have to decide what's most important. Good luck.

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Do you think a prospective employer will see you as high risk for LOA and your usage will be a legal reason not to hire?

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Libby1987 said:
Do you think a prospective employer will see you as high risk for LOA and your usage will be a legal reason not to hire?

This is a very good point. If you tip your hand about your condition all they might see is an employee who's going to call off a lot.

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This will all boil down to the "CYA" theory of nursing and administration. From a purely business standpoint I would not allow anyone on my staff

to use medical marijuana and still do direct patient care. This is a sue happy society where the Plantiffs already know that a lawsuit will cost the

facility so much money that these cases are settled out of court and often for large sums. These Plantiffs are advised to "Go for it".

Imagine if you will; you are working in a med/surg unit and a new RN is orienting under your license. You, (foolishly) ASSUME that because

she's an RN she SHOULD understand that leaving a brand new stroke patient alone on the commode would be a bad idea.

You ASSUMED WRONG. Nurse Numb Brains, leaves the new stroke patient on the commode, patient starts to lean to the left,

does not understand that she's paralyzed on that entire side and has no way to catch herself so she hits the tile face first.

Blood everywhere.

Now the family wants to know what the #e!! happened. Guess what, they now have a lawyer and they are reviewing the chart and interviewing

several of your co-workers who have leaked to the lawyer that you are on medical marijuana.

It's all over but the crying.

It's a sad world.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
youenjoymyself said:
Well, honestly how would the BON know? They aren't the ones drug testing me. If my employer and I have an understanding about the cannabis oil and I have a MMJ card so no chance of any fines/jail is gone with Jonny Lawbuckle...How would they ever know?

Someone else may report you to the BON...and the BON looks into every complaint it gets before. As I said before, while the BON may not care what arrangement you have with your employer--as a rule, BONs tend not to get involved in employment matters--they may care that a nurse using drugs is practicing.

And again, that MMJ card is no legal prescription so don't rely on it to save your *** with the BON.

You would have to hope that no one ever found out about your use, meaning you'd have to REALLY keep it on the QT. Because you never know who might decide for whatever reason to drop the BON a little note.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
Kayauhs said:

Imagine if you will; you are working in a med/surg unit and a new RN is orienting under your license.

No licensed RN works under another RN's license. Just felt the need to clarify that.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Rocknurse said:
This is absolutely not the case. Full spectrum CBD oils contain up to 0.3% THC and many people who take it have popped positive for tests. Isolate CBD claims to have the THC removed but it's no guarantee unless you get 3rd party testing which is prohibitively expensive. I have researched it with a view to using it, after all, it's legal everywhere, however I cannot risk a positive test so I refrain.

I think you misunderstood my post. I was assured that CBD oil would not cause a +THC in urine by multiple sources so I tried it and tested myself. Popped positive. which is why I don't use it any more.

Hppy

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

Boy, what a sticky situation! My first thought is to heck with what the BON might think, your health is way more important than your job. Then my second thought was wait a minute, it's not just a job, it's potentially an entire career affected. Despite what individual states have decided on the legality of marijuana for medical and/or recreational purposes it's use is still illegal on the federal level. Add in the recent roll back of Obama era policy of federal non-interference towards states that have legalized marijuana use and the waters are now very murky.

There has not been a single BON that I'm aware of that's come forward and said that marijuana use is acceptable despite state law saying it's legal to use. But on the other hand how the BON proceeds with any disciplinary action is on a case by case basis and you could have a very good case, but I'm still not sure it'll be worth it to you to go there if you are currently a practicing nurse. State monitoring programs can be brutal, expensive, and make it very difficult to find employment while you are in their program.

You also mention you are looking for a new job and I can pretty much guarantee you'll have an extremely difficult time finding that new job if you are going to test positive on a pre-employment drug screen. That potential new employer doesn't know you, doesn't know your situation and doesn't care why you tested positive. They are just going to go by their company policy and a positive test will without a doubt make any job offer be rescinded.

In the end only you can decide if the benefits of medical cannabis use for your cancer treatment outweighs the potential risks to your career. I am truly sorry you are going through this and I wish you the best going forward.

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Specializes in Critical Care and ED.
hppygr8ful said:
I think you misunderstood my post. I was assured that CBD oil would not cause a +THC in urine by multiple sources so I tried it and tested myself. Popped positive. which is why I don't use it any more.

Hppy

Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying. It's a darned shame because CBD shows a lot of promise in many areas.

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Specializes in CVICU, MICU, Burn ICU.

I think it's naive to think you will come to any arrangement that the CBD is OK with your employer. This is what I call playing with fire, for sure. An employer would be foolishly putting themselves on the line HUGE to agree to look the other way with your CBD use. Who would do that? I sure hope Ma and Pa Home Health wouldn't do that, for their own sakes! It SO easy to find out about. It's way too risky.

That said, would you be able to take some time off work to use it some and then let it clear? A leave of absence? Not sure that would be beneficial -- I don't know enough about it (other than nurses who use it are un-hireable). I'm really sorry you are going through this and have to deal with this very real dilemma. I really hope you can figure out a way to stay in nursing ..... one idea would be in a job with no direct patient care? You still need to pass the employment drug screen, but it seems like there would be less scenarios that would come up to put you in a position to possibly be tested down the line.

I dunno. I don't think you can ask any employer to knowingly agree to put their neck out there for you like that. I really really would NOT bring this up with any employer. If you decide to use it, then let it be just on you ... not on someone else with just as much or more to lose, also.

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