RN with medical marijuana card

[youenjoymyself]

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?

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

Oh yeah I abused alcohol. I was over the legal limit (about 4 drinks according to my BAC) and made the poor choice of driving my car. I committed a crime for which I was punished by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and paid the full price according to the law. A lot of folks get DUIs and not all of them are alcoholics. What never happened & the BON could find no evidence of despite an investigation was me being impaired at work not did my drinking on the night in question (or any other time for that matter) affect my abilities as a nurse because I was never impaired at work. Anyway, despite my personal feelings about these programs, the purpose of my rant was to inform what the OP had on the line should he get busted with the demon weed in his system. These programs are basically "one size fits all" so the person shooting up at work with opioids diverted from some patient in pain at work gets the exact same punishment as the DUIs, recreational weed smokers and unverified innuendos from somebody with an axe to grind. So would the guy taking marijuana pills for pain control even if they were a good idea medically.

[Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

Spanked, I've been following your story on the Recovery board, and I am so very sorry to hear about your NP program. It's horrifying and upsetting that this has happened to you. The punishment in this case completely and overwhelmingly has exceeded the crime. I read the Recovery board a lot because I want to learn to the full extent how the BON treats nurses, and because of stories like yours you may have saved many a nurse from making the same mistake. There is a complete disconnect in this country in terms of what's illegal, what's legal and the gray area in between. Personally I don't think nurses can safely use any kind of scheduled drug or alcohol without being fearful of all the worst-case scenarios that can happen.

I think marijuana is a wonderful thing for many people, and that CBD has huge potential for helping many conditions without causing any kind of intoxication, but because of schedule I it's impossible for any nurse to use them without living in fear. It's not worth it. It's not a case of a slap on the wrist or even the loss of a job....it's far, far worse than that. It's loss of livelihood, license, reputation and even sanity. I've never been through the nightmare that you've so eloquently talked about, but it's made me very mindful and sympathetic to those who have. I hope just one nurse reads this and realizes how the odd smoke on a Saturday night has the potential to cause catastrophic damage to their world. Alcohol is legal and yet there is a potential for that to turn around and bite the nurse who might get caught on their way to work in the morning after a night of drinking. Please, all of you, be very, very careful of what you partake it. Don't be fooled by the leniency towards marijuana in your state. In nursing there is no leniency.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

MunoRN said:

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.

I am talking about a new grad applicant for licensure who maybe had a dui 4 years earlier. The crime was adjudicated and penalties and punishment completed. This person went to rehab and remained sober ever since - yet they are placed in a monitoring program which ends up costing the participant around $50,000.00 before they are through because they we honest. They haven't even worked a single shift as a nurse so no evidence of impairment. In no way do I condone driving while impaired but something like this should not be used against someone who had a problem, got help, and got better.

Hppy

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

drd18 said:

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.

Many facilities are testing for nicotine, a completely legal substance, and making hiring decisions based on the results.

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

Yep, actually my CAPSTONE is on nurses who smoke. The hospitals are trying to save money on insurance premiums. Some are starting to fire nurses who smoke. Others refusing to hire them. Next up fatties. After that nurses who have contracted an sti. I just made up those last two but the same logic applies

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

SpankedInPittsburgh said:

Yep, actually my CAPSTONE is on nurses who smoke. The hospitals are trying to save money on insurance premiums. Some are starting to fire nurses who smoke. Others refusing to hire them. Next up fatties. After that nurses who have contracted an sti. I just made up those last two but the same logic applies

I freely admit I smoke, heck over half the nurses I work with smoke. That is honestly one of the perks that keeps some staff working at our facility, it's smoker friendly. Employee smoking area right out the back door unlike the hospitals which require staff to leave the grounds. No silliness of requiring a negative nicotine test for employment. The health insurance used to have a program where premiums could be lowered by testing negative for nicotine and maintaining "good" numbers on some lab tests and being in a healthy BMI range. They stopped that 2 years ago because so few people agreed to participate.

You are absolutely right though. In prohibition days alcohol was the evil force, now it's becoming tobacco. While it's still legal you sure wouldn't think so the way smokers can be treated. What's next? Employers refusing to hire overweight nurses due to the so called health risks? Maybe after that they can get away with not hiring certain ethnicities since they have a higher incidence of diabetes and high blood pressure, after all that sure increases their health risks and will make the insurance premiums higher for the rest of the employees if they have to cover people with all these increased health risks. I joke, maybe. I'd like to think such craziness will never come to pass but in the current political climate not much would surprise me.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

kbrn2002 said:

I freely admit I smoke, heck over half the nurses I work with smoke. That is honestly one of the perks that keeps some staff working at our facility, it's smoker friendly. Employee smoking area right out the back door unlike the hospitals which require staff to leave the grounds. No silliness of requiring a negative nicotine test for employment. The health insurance used to have a program where premiums could be lowered by testing negative for nicotine and maintaining "good" numbers on some lab tests and being in a healthy BMI range. They stopped that 2 years ago because so few people agreed to participate.

You are absolutely right though. In prohibition days alcohol was the evil force, now it's becoming tobacco. While it's still legal you sure wouldn't think so the way smokers can be treated. What's next? Employers refusing to hire overweight nurses due to the so called health risks? Maybe after that they can get away with not hiring certain ethnicities since they have a higher incidence of diabetes and high blood pressure, after all that sure increases their health risks and will make the insurance premiums higher for the rest of the employees if they have to cover people with all these increased health risks. I joke, maybe. I'd like to think such craziness will never come to pass but in the current political climate not much would surprise me.

Refusing to hire based on race is illegal. However, smokers, marijuana users, and obese people are not a protected class, so theoretically any of the above could be legally discriminated against.

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

Yeah here in Pennsylvania we are an "at will" state and our Supreme Court holds that an employee can be terminated for a good reason, a bad reason or no reason. If the employee is protected by an employment contract or this violates civil rights then the termination is not right and a civil suit can ensue. However, smokers are in no such protected class. Soon if some of you wish you can help me with my CAPSTONE by participating in a learning experience with a pre & post test. Happy Weekend all!!!

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

youenjoymyself said:

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

I'd agree, it seems like you'd have better luck in a role away from the bedside and/or direct patient care, and you can do this in managerial, insurance, educational, research...there's quite a few areas. But the hard part would be finding an employer, even one in such areas, willing to allow for your use and let any positive UDSes slide.

youenjoymyself said:

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

Looks like NH isn't quite saying "No"...but it's also not a resounding "Yes" either. That verbiage leaves a lot of grey area, especially when it comes to defining exactly what "impaired" and "impairment" mean. I'd bet the cat that you, a prospective employer, and the BON will come up with 3 varying definitions of the terms. The question is, whose definition will win in a showdown...hint: likely the BON's as they control the licensure.

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

I think a lot of the marijuana issue goes beyond the BONs. Federal law still says that weed is illegal. Medicare is a federal program that many providers are dependent on & an employer who lets employees slide on the weed issue may place their funding in jeopardy should knowledge of that tolerance become public.

[youenjoymyself]

I wouldn't be taking CBD for pain, but for tumor reduction properties. I take bunch of homeopathic roots, oils, mushrooms, etc... since this tumor is currently inoperable.

It's very unsettling to know you have a malignancy in your body and you aren't doing everything possible to reduce the chance of metastisies.

[Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

I wouldn't be taking CBD for pain, but for tumor reduction properties. I take bunch of homeopathic roots, oils, mushrooms, etc... since this tumor is currently inoperable.

It's very unsettling to know you have a malignancy in your body and you aren't doing everything possible to reduce the chance of metastisies.

I'm sorry to hear this. Perhaps you can use CBD isolate which contains no THC and therefore have the best of both worlds.