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Archive for the ‘Human Rights’ Category

Medical Marijuana and Job Loss

(CNN) — When a rare form of cancer invaded Joseph Casias’ nasal cavity and his brain, his doctor prescribed marijuana to help alleviate the daily pain.

Casias lives in Michigan, where medical marijuana is legal.

But his employer, Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, fired him in November 2009 after he failed a drug test.

Casias, 29, says he never came to work high. He’s got a medical marijuana card to prove he’s allowed to smoke legally in the state.

“I was angry they did this to me because I always tried my best,” said Casias, who was employed at Wal-Mart for five years. He earned an Associate of the Year award in 2008. “I want my job back. I thought I was part of the Wal-Mart family.”

To date, 14 states have laws allowing the use of medical marijuana, which shield legal users from criminalization but don’t protect them from them penalties enforced by their employers. As more people are being prescribed marijuana across the nation, they are wrestling with a caveat: They could be fired.

Michigan is an at-will employment state, which means employers can terminate a worker for any reason except for being in a federally protected class such as race, gender and religion.

But medical marijuana users are not considered a protected group. If a company has zero-tolerance drug policies, then they can fire someone who uses medical marijuana, attorneys say. Labor law experts say most states operate this way, unless the employee has a specific employment contract that makes exceptions for medical marijuana use.

In 2008, the California Supreme Court backed up employers, ruling a private company could fire an Air Force veteran whose doctor prescribed him marijuana for his chronic and disabling back pain. The veteran was hired by a telecommunications company but fired several weeks after he tested positive for marijuana. The landmark case has many medical marijuana users fretting about their employment prospects, legal experts say.

But Michigan may be an exception to most states. Part of Michigan’s law, passed in 2008, does address employers, saying a patient carrying a medical marijuana card cannot be “denied any right or privilege” by a “business or occupational or professional licensing board.”

Some attorneys say Michigan’s law could be fertile grounds for a discrimination suit. Casias hasn’t decided whether he will pursue a lawsuit.

Let’s Rethink How We Punish

Patricia Caruso, head of the state Corrections Department, offered one of my all-time favorite quotes when she said a few years ago of Michigan’s swelling prison population: “We need to decide who we’re afraid of and who we’re mad at.”

We’re running out of time to make that decision. Michigan is releasing about 2,000 additional prisoners this year to trim the Corrections budget. Among their ranks are killers, assaulters, robbers and an assortment of other despicable characters who have served their minimum sentences, but could be held longer under Michigan law.

Next year, the stream becomes a flood, if the Legislature approves Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s budget. The governor wants to free 7,500 more inmates by rewriting sentencing guidelines.

It’s a budget move, and one I support. Michigan is broke and getting broker. It doesn’t have the luxury of being as harsh on crime as perhaps it would like.

This issue isn’t going away. Michigan must commit to a smaller inmate population for the long haul. So, going back to Caruso’s quote, we ought to use this opportunity to radically rethink how we punish.

Nonviolent offenders should not be behind bars, unless they present a habitual threat to property. Nor should those who have lived an otherwise law-abiding life but through a lapse of judgment took a one-time swerve from the straight and narrow.

We’ve got to reserve our prison cells for the really scary guys and find alternative ways to punish everyone else.

The Supreme Court’s Blow to Democracy

With a single, disastrous 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court has thrust politics back to the robber-baron era of the 19th century. Disingenuously waving the flag of the First Amendment, the court’s conservative majority has paved the way for corporations to use their vast treasuries to overwhelm elections and intimidate elected officials into doing their bidding.

Congress must act immediately to limit the damage of this radical decision, which strikes at the heart of democracy.

As a result of Thursday’s ruling, corporations have been unleashed from the longstanding ban against their spending directly on political campaigns and will be free to spend as much money as they want to elect and defeat candidates.

If a member of Congress tries to stand up to a wealthy special interest, its lobbyists can credibly threaten: We’ll spend whatever it takes to defeat you.

The founders of this nation warned about the dangers of corporate influence. The Constitution they wrote mentions many things and assigns them rights and protections — the people, militias, the press, religions. But it does not mention corporations.

In 1907, as corporations reached new heights of wealth and power, Congress made its views of the relationship between corporations and campaigning clear: It banned them from contributing to candidates. At midcentury, it enacted the broader ban on spending that was repeatedly reaffirmed over the decades until it was struck down on Thursday.

America is Being Governed by Callous Children

The new economic statistics put growth at a healthy 3.5% for the third quarter. We should be dancing in the streets. No one is, because no one has any faith in these numbers. Waves of money are sloshing through the system, creating a false rising tide that lifts all boats for the moment.

The tide will recede. The boats aren’t rising, they’re bobbing, and will settle. No one believes the bad time is over. No one thinks we’re entering a new age of abundance. No one thinks it will ever be the same as before 2008. Economists, statisticians, forecasters and market specialists will argue about what the new numbers mean, but no one believes them, either.

Among the things swept away in 2008 was public confidence in the experts. The experts missed the crash. They’ll miss the meaning of this moment, too.

The biggest threat to America right now is not government spending, huge deficits, foreign ownership of our debt, world terrorism, two wars, potential epidemics or nuts with nukes.

The biggest long-term threat is that people are becoming and have become disheartened.

Dead Peasant Insurance?

See for yourself how Corporate America feels about the working class.

Health Insurance Scam

WellPoint health insurance company, which has encouraged its employees to lobby against health care reform, is now cutting their benefits.

The insurance giant plans to raise deductibles and premiums for some of its employee health benefits. “Your cost per paycheck will probably increase,” said a memo to Wellpoint employees that was obtained by Bloomberg News.

The company blamed the recession for the cuts. “Like many employers in today’s economic environment, we are looking at all aspects of our business,” including benefits, “and making adjustments to ensure we can continue to operate competitively in the future,” wrote Chief Human Resources Officer Randy Brown.

WellPoint’s CEO, Angela Braly, made nearly $10 million in 2008.

A House investigation found that WellPoint also rewarded employees for finding ways to drop policyholders who developed expensive conditions — a practice known as rescission.