I used to use marijuana only as a recreational drug, recently it was prescribed to me due to anxiety and lack of appetite. If you have a prescription to marijuana and you test positive on a drug screening, would you still be allowed to work? Would an application for employment be denied?
Personally, I think that you should be able to. I believe that you should be able to do whatever you want during your off hours, as long as it is not affecting your performance at work, whether that is going home and having a few beers, or smoking a joint.
Honestly, I feel more in control of myself and a lot safer when using marijuana over drinking alcohol. Going into the nursing field really does take a special kind of person that wants to help people. If we didn't have the genuine desire to help, most likely, we would not have made it through school.
I would never come into work high any more than I would come into work drunk, so it wouldn't affect the way that I treat patients. Why would I enter a field to help people, just to hinder my performance and actually put them in harms way? There are restrictions on marijuana just like there are on any other prescription drug, just like the "do not operate heavy machinery" restriction. If it is legal, prescribed, and not affecting me at work, I don't think that my license should be at stake.