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?

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

That is my intention. I am looking for something in case management/insurance side of things. This is really just food for thought.

I did find this which looks promising to my plight and I can only hope PA yakes a similar stance:

https://www.oplc.nh.gov/nursing/documents/medical-marijuana.pdf

1 Votes

Hi there,

I live in California where both medical and RECREATIONAL use is legal. I work in the employee health office of the hospital, and we do all the drug screens. Unfortunately, our current policies will remain in tact because the FEDERAL law remains and that is what we must follow. I would be careful, because even if everyone in your job seems they'd be okay with it, they will likely still have to keep the policy the same. And this is coming from one of the most marijuana-progressive states! My hospital has mentioned that it may have something to do with funding, insurance, etc. Hope that helps!

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Also, as far as your thinking that you can get on someone's good side to have them look the other way, I would think again. All our tests are sent through a lab who then sends back the results. This is how most drug-testing procedures work unless you're peeing in a cup for your PO. It isn't like this is some secret that can stay between you and the person administering the test. It will almost always involve other people, and I don't see a group all risking their jobs and possibly licenses to help you with this. I hope that doesn't come off harsh, I am a total supporter of MMJ. I just hope you can see the reality of this risky idea!

1 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.
drd18 said:
Hi there,

I live in California where both medical and RECREATIONAL use is legal. I work in the employee health office of the hospital, and we do all the drug screens. Unfortunately, our current policies will remain in tact because the FEDERAL law remains and that is what we must follow. I would be careful, because even if everyone in your job seems they'd be okay with it, they will likely still have to keep the policy the same. And this is coming from one of the most marijuana-progressive states! My hospital has mentioned that it may have something to do with funding, insurance, etc. Hope that helps!

There are no federal laws that require employers to broadly drug test prosepective employees outside of situations where employees are directly regulated by the federal government (airline pilots for instance), so I think your employer has given you some bad information. There are hospitals out there that don't drug test at all except in cases of apparent impairment.

1 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.

A number of nursing boards have put out position statements in the wake of medical and recreational marijuana legalization at the state level, and I think people may be overstating their stances. Generally, boards of stated their concern is with impairment at work, and when issues of known use comes up their focus will be on whether there was any potential impairment while on the job, whether it's marijuana or appropriately used prescription medications, not any use at all.

1 Votes

Hi,

I did not mention federal laws regarding drug tests. I'm saying federally, marijuana is still an illegal substance. Thus why workplaces test for it. If the federal law said marijuana is legal, and so did the state, I would assume then we would not test for it.

1 Votes

And, the OP did not mention a job that doesn't test. That would be another story. Her situation is an employer that DOES test, but hoping they can ignore a positive result.

1 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
MunoRN said:
There are no federal laws that require employers to broadly drug test prosepective employees outside of situations where employees are directly regulated by the federal government (airline pilots for instance), so I think your employer has given you some bad information. There are hospitals out there that don't drug test at all except in cases of apparent impairment.

Untrue - if you are familiar with BON monitoring programs you will find many people who may have had a DUI years ago with no indication that they were ever impaired on the job or even had the chance to be impaired. In many cases a new grad applying for their first license marks that yes they have had a DUI or been to treatment for a substance abuse problem in the last 10 years. They may well have been sober for years but they are marked from the get go and shoved into a monitoring program for 3 to five years at great personal cost. "Spanked" Care to weigh in on this one." I have been sober for 15 years and personally would not do anything to bring me to the attention of the BON. In fact I can now answer that question with an honest no.

Hppy

1 Votes
Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
hppygr8ful said:
Untrue - if you are familiar with BON monitoring programs you will find many people who may have had a DUI years ago with no indication that they were ever impaired on the job or even had the chance to be impaired. In many cases a new grad applying for their first license marks that yes they have had a DUI or been to treatment for a substance abuse problem in the last 10 years. They may well have been sober for years but they are marked from the get go and shoved into a monitoring program for 3 to five years at great personal cost. "Spanked" Care to weigh in on this one." I have been sober for 15 years and personally would not do anything to bring me to the attention of the BON. In fact I can now answer that question with an honest no.

Hppy

Muno said "broadly test prospective employees" - by that I'm sure he meant universal testing of all new hires. A monitoring program is a different beast, and I'm sure he was not speaking to that.

1 Votes
Specializes in Psychiatric and Mental Health NP (PMHNP).

I am so sorry you are going through this and am wishing you the best. You might also want to check your employer's policy. Here in California, while marijuana use is now completely legal, it depends on the employer. Some employers' policy is that they do not ask or test for marijuana. Others still test for pot use. This may also depend on their funding source, as pot is still illegal at the federal level, so organizations receiving federal funding must prohibit pot use. Really hope things work out for you.

1 Votes

Much like a Vampire (outside of my beloved recovery chat room) I need to be invited into a room to bare my fangs about my pure hatred of all that is PNAP. In the land of Spanked (there is no such place and never will be) nurses who were impaired at work would be treated like folks who are sick and need help. After all substance abuse has been deemed a disease for over 60 years by American Medicine. Simply put, if you didn't bring your personal issues to work in the form of being impaired and thus affecting you ability to care for patients trusted to you as a Nurse it would be none of anybody's business. Trust me my friend you do not live in the land of Spanked.

Nurses love to dine on the cold bloody flesh of other nurses. The meal is especially delectable if they think the they are doing the victim some good by teaching them a lesson. BONs are reflections of the Nurses they represent so when a nurse shows any evidence of abusing any substance the main course of a pound of bloody flesh shall be served to our ravenous do-gooders. The fact that you have cancer and this may be a valid way of treating your pain and is prescribed by a Doc will not prevent the cannibals from munching on your butt.

Let me give you some examples of the cold meat that has been sent through the grinder without any evidence of being impaired at work in any way. A Nurse who took sleeping for years because she worked night shift and was reported by her treating physician to the board because he thought she may be developing a dependence. A Nurse who was going through a bad divorce and whose crazy husband called the BON and said she was a drug addict despite years of clean DAUs. A nurse who got a DUI 10 years before he became a nurse. A nurse who took and old Vicodin which was unused from an old procedure (know any junkies with left over narcs) who peed hot on a random. Plenty of nurses who tested positive for weed with no evidence of being impaired at work. A Nurse who underwent substance abuse treatment as a teenager and was dumb enough to tell to truth to the BON on her application for a Nursing License over 10 years later. A Nurse who completed another states monitoring program for a DUI years ago and told the truth when asked if she had the occasional beer when applying for a license. Finally there is me, I got a DUI two summers ago on a day off and was never impaired at work in any way. I've been in Nazi Monitoring land for the better part of two years now and of the dozens of fellow nurses who are in this meat grinder I've met there are allegations against three for being impaired at work. Simply put if the BON finds out you got the demon weed in you then you are next served at the cannibal all you eat buffet.

What's it like in Nazi Monitoring land. First, they will take away your ability to work until an assessment and some form of inpatient and/or outpatient treatment is completed. Median time for a permission to return to work is six months. You got bills to pay and mouths to feed? Nobody cares. After being given permission to return to work you will be subject to random DAUs (3 a month at about $75 per test) expected to go to an asinine weekly "support group" (25$) and go to 12 step meetings weather you get anything out of them of not (at least they are free and usually involve goodies). Also you must fill out monthly self-reports and your employer must fill out quarterly reports. In addition you ability to practice is curtailed (goodbye ER for me hello case management). If you are in school that involves clinical practicums forget that. This is supposed to go on three years but since PNAP and the BON moves at the speed of a glacier it last just shy of 4 years. Total cost to me in lost wages so far is about $40K and I got paid the whole time because I had built up sick time and a strong union behind me. In addition I had to drop out of my last semester of NP studies. On-going costs come to about $100 per week at a time when your income has been drastically cut. Many of my colleagues have lost everything and were never impaired at work or their "sins" occurred many years ago often before they ever thought of becoming a nurse at all.

The moral of all this is that you want no damn part of this. I'm sure the intentions for these programs were good when they started and they might even help a minority of nurses sucked into there vortex now. If you decide to take these meds & hell I might in your situation just know the evil BS that awaits you if you fall into the grips of the caring professionals in Nazi Monitoring Land. It ain't pretty. Good Luck!!! Don't say you weren't warned.

1 Votes
Specializes in Critical Care.
hppygr8ful said:
Untrue - if you are familiar with BON monitoring programs you will find many people who may have had a DUI years ago with no indication that they were ever impaired on the job or even had the chance to be impaired. In many cases a new grad applying for their first license marks that yes they have had a DUI or been to treatment for a substance abuse problem in the last 10 years. They may well have been sober for years but they are marked from the get go and shoved into a monitoring program for 3 to five years at great personal cost. "Spanked" Care to weigh in on this one." I have been sober for 15 years and personally would not do anything to bring me to the attention of the BON. In fact I can now answer that question with an honest no.

Hppy

A DUI is considered evidence of alcohol abuse rather than use which is why DUIs often result in imposed monitoring programs, a DUI with Marijuana as the impairing substance would be treated the same. A DUI means the person was impaired when they should not have been, which a BON sees as far more concerning than responsible use, whether it's alcohol marijuana.

1 Votes
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