The Colorado Supreme Court ruled
on June 15, 2015 that Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic medical marijuana patient
from Colorado who had been fired by Dish Network in 2010 for using the drug
while at home and off-duty, was not protected under the state's "lawful
activities statute." According to the Court, “Colorado’s ‘lawful activities
statute,’ the term ‘lawful’ refers only to 14 those activities that are lawful
under both state and federal law. Therefore, employees 15 who engage in an
activity such as medical marijuana use that is permitted by state law 16 but
unlawful under federal law are not protected by the statute.”[1]
This reasoning seems pretty solid, though if we unpack use and consult with the company’s own rationale, the case is
considerably messier. In fact, the problem may reside with the American federal
system itself, in which case an erroneous judicial decision could be expected.
The complete
essay is at “Dish
Network and the U.S. Government.”
