Hospitals discriminating against medical conditions..?

Nurses General Nursing

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If a person has a medical condition and is prescribed medical cannabis by a medical doctor would it not be discrimitory for a nurse to be denied employment? Nurses should have the same rights as any other individuals that are not nurses. This is common sense. A nurse should have the right to chose either man made chemicals (which can lead to absolute dependance) or chose naturally occurring medicines such as cannabis (which is much less likely for dependance). Why are we being denied this right? If you say its because there is no test to measure if a nurse is high on the job or not then guess what? Its not the nurses fault this test does not exist so why does the nurse have to limit their options for medical care? Having said that I feel hospitals are discriminating against medical conditions and I don't even know how they are not being prosecuted for this. Medical cannabis is prescribed by a medical doctor and therefore is in FACT a medication! Hospitals are not hiring and firing people with medical prescriptions.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Yes, but what of the riots?

OMG. You just hit it every time :yes: :roflmao:

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Specializes in critical care.
perhaps I did misread your statement. However, you guys are pointing at everything but the main point I'm trying to make here which is nurse or no nurse laws are made for EVERY single soul out there. There are no separate laws for certain professionals..

Exactly. Smoking pot is against federal law, and therefore may be a reportable offense to your BON, regardless of card carry, and may possible cause you to become unhired and/or unlicensed or restricted in nursing practice.

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Specializes in critical care.
You can't tell me because I'm a nurse that I cannot use my lawful right to smoke just as everyone else. I may get fired and may not get a job if I do smoke but holding a RN license and smoking is not illegal if I have a prescription.. Back to common sense and you guys are exhausting.

At will employment. You're informed up front, and yes, they can.

And frankly, I'd be absolutely humiliated to smell like pot at work. (I say this in response to posts that have mentioned the smell of smoke being on you.)

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Ok fine I get the point of this ridiculous battle between state versus federal laws but the Board Of Nursing is governed on a state level and a nurse cannot lose their license over this matter only lose a job correct?

I beg to differ - even in states where cannabis is legal it is still against federal land every State Nurse Practice act that I have read states that nurse's who engage in any criminal behavior (state or federal) can be subject to revocation of their license. Plus even where cannabis is legal the DEA does not allow Physicians to write prescriptions for it. What Physicians do to get around this law is to provide a recommendation "Patient may benefit from use of medical cannabis. BTW there is medical legal cannabis and it's been around for years. It's called Marinol and is used as an appetite stimulant for cancer patients and adult failure to thrive patients.

Just stop by the Nurses in recovery forum and read the stories of nurse who have lost their jobs, their license, and respect of peers for having positive urine screens. Some nurses have even been reported to the State Boards for positive urine screens on pre-employment physicals.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

The bottom line is that the State Boards most case are overseen by the state dept of consumer affairs and their job is to maintain the safety of the public. They can yank your license for doing something that a safe and prudent person would not do. It does not matter If that action is legal not. They can also yank you license for act or crimes of moral turpitude such as shop lifting. In my own case I was suffering from depression (not a Crime), taking prescribed antidepressants (not a crime) and drinking alcohol (again not a crime) I was never drunk at work and had no problem with my employer. I got drunk on weekend when I was not working and took my pills plus a bunch of Benadryl and passed out. (Again not a crime) however my husband got scared and took me to ER - I was reported as impaired even though I had never worked under the influence and nearly lost my license to practice.

You can lose your license for doing something that a person of good judgement would not do such as drunk driving or smoking cannabis when you know you are likely to be tested.

I suffer from terrible insomnia and chronic pain from Ulcerative colitis and Fibromyalgia but I live in California and have been under the BON microscope before so even if MJ would give me good symptom relief I won't take the chance.

You say your lawyer is confident your BON can't take action against your license but I would get a 2nd opinion on that from a lawyer experienced with BON actions.

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Keep smoking OP. I don't want you to ever be my nurse.

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OP-

You started this thread as an amusing and probably impaired troll.

Once you mentioned working in an environment surrounded by *******, you pretty much crossed the line into acting a full blown schmuck.

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Thanks for that clarification, klone. As I said, my opinion means nothing. You would think that with the progressive laws regarding marijuana in this country, that the boards of nursing would progress with them. But they won't. That would take away one of B-I-G reasons for attacking nurses & therefore require less board members. None of them want to have to go back to clinical nursing after sitting on an administrative board for a couple of decades.

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I'm sorry to hear of your personal struggles, hppygr8ful. I am also sorry to hear that the BON thought it was in their realm to punish you for it.

What I find to be so ironic is that if the ER staff did not know you were a nurse, you wouldn't have been reported to the BON. Again, a case of the truth not always being the best policy & keeping certain things private.

Tens of millions of nurses out there take antidepressants. Tens of millions drink booze. The BON should not be permitted to single out certain nurses & punish them for these things---it's an all-or-none type of thing. I also think that you would have a very good case against whomever reported you to the BON for being "impaired" while not working, as well as the BON itself for punishing you as an "impaired" nurse.

On the flip side, it does sound like you were severely depressed & needed help. Life & its stressors certainly don't make it easy. Nurses have to quit being thought of as invincible and put into the "general population". It is ironic that the very people who are supposed to understand disease states---and that includes mental disorders---are the most critical & not understanding or accepting. That is very sad.

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Thanks for that clarification, klone. As I said, my opinion means nothing. You would think that with the progressive laws regarding marijuana in this country, that the boards of nursing would progress with them. But they won't. That would take away one of B-I-G reasons for attacking nurses & therefore require less board members. None of them want to have to go back to clinical nursing after sitting on an administrative board for a couple of decades.

I certainly hope they don't. I do NOT want an impaired nurse, or doctor, or CNA caring for my family or myself. With marijuana there isn't an effective way of determining level of impairment, so I would have no idea if the person in question had smoked up an hour before shift, or two days ago.

If a person cannot work without imbibing in illegal substances to make it through, that person should be thinking long and hard about if they can adequately meet the demands of the job.

I have a few ex friends who are dedicated daily smokers. They swear they can't unwind at the end of the day without a bowl or two. They make no efforts to learn coping skills or break their maladaptive behaviors. To me, there IS a difference between use of SSRIs and marijuana. Biggest being the SSRI addresses a neurochemical imbalance and the marijuana just masks the symptoms.

Federal law trumps state law, and safety trumps whiny stoners who have "anxiety" that can only be cured by weed.

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I didn't know that was the deal in Colorado. I figured that this issue was going to come up sooner or later with the ever evolving marijuana laws.

One thing I thought about since my post is that medical marijuana is not something that is prescribed for a run-of-the-mill disease. I don't think a person is going to get a prescription for MM for HTN or diabetes or a broken leg. MM is usually one of the very last things that are prescribed when all other modalities have failed. MM is used for terminal cancer pts. with nausea/vomiting & intractable pain. It can be used to uncontrollable glaucoma. It's not a first-line treatment for anything, and by the time someone is prescribed MM, they're long past the days of working as a nurse or anything else.

The recreational marijuana thing is another story. I may have a different opinion about it than many other people, but comparatively, it is far less dangerous as other "legal" things out there such as alcohol, cigarettes, narcotics. The medical marijuana, as far as I know, isn't just made into the smokable form. It is made into oils & tinctures, vaporized, edible & topical forms. It is the VERY BEST thing out there for increased intraocular pressure, nausea and pain relief.

I would hope that by the time a nurse needs marijuana to manage a medical condition, they wouldn't be working anyway. If a nurse is requiring marijuana to treat any of the serious conditions that it is approved for, they should be on disability.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

One thing I thought about since my post is that medical marijuana is not something that is prescribed for a run-of-the-mill disease. I don't think a person is going to get a prescription for MM for HTN or diabetes or a broken leg. MM is usually one of the very last things that are prescribed when all other modalities have failed. MM is used for terminal cancer pts. with nausea/vomiting & intractable pain. It can be used to uncontrollable glaucoma. It's not a first-line treatment for anything, and by the time someone is prescribed MM, they're long past the days of working as a nurse or anything else.

I would hope that by the time a nurse needs marijuana to manage a medical condition, they wouldn't be working anyway. If a nurse is requiring marijuana to treat any of the serious conditions that it is approved for, they should be on disability.

"Anxiety and insomnia" are the conditions that OP is prescribed for.

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