Wal-Mart wins a round

Well the first shoe has dropped on a high-profile medical marijuana case and it made a big, ugly clunk to the ears of activists. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker ruled in favor of Wal-Mart and threw out the reinstatement suit brought by Joseph Casias.

Casias, a brain cancer patient who lives in Battle Creek, was fired by Wal-Mart after he tested positive for marijuana use. Casias is a registered medical marijuana patient who contends that he never went to work high. Wal-Mart's policy does not condone the use of marijuana for any reason. The judge concurred.

"The fundamental problem with [Casias'] case is that the [medical marijuana law] does not regulate private employment," Jonker wrote in a 20-page opinion issued Feb. 11 "Rather, the Act provides a potential defense to criminal prosecution or other adverse action by the state. ... All the [law] does is give some people limited protection from prosecution by the state, or from other adverse state action in carefully limited medical marijuana situations."

He ruled that the law "says nothing about private employment rights. Nowhere does the [law] state that the statute regulates private employment, that private employees are protected from disciplinary action should they use medical marijuana, or that private employers must accommodate the use of medical marijuana outside of the workplace."

Casias is appealing the decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He's asking for reinstatement to his position, compensation for loss of wages and something known as "exemplary damages," which is similar to but not the same as punitive damages. Suffice to say that the wheels of justice will move excruciatingly slow as they do in the appeals stage of cases.

"This is very tough for Joseph and his family because he hasn't been able to find work since he was terminated by Wal-Mart; this hasn't been easy on him," says Dan Korobkin, a staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, part of Casias' legal team. "He's been in it for the long haul ever since we started this case. He understands that this is not just about him but about thousands of medical marijuana patients around the state. ...

"This is a case about whether a medical marijuana patient has to choose between making a living and supporting a family, while treating a medical condition and pain based on the advice of a doctor. When the law was enacted, citizens said you shouldn't have to make that choice."

This is an important case that could set a precedent that reverberates across the state, and possibly the nation.

Anecdotal comments have been appearing in news stories from people saying things like, "When I voted for the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act I thought it was going to be for people really sick with cancer and multiple sclerosis, but I'm having second thoughts now that I'm seeing everybody with a headache or a hangnail getting medical marijuana cards." There are some people thinking that out there, but the vast majority of Michigan voters still support the MMMA, according to a recent poll done by the Marketing Resource Group of Lansing and funded by Gersh Avery and the Michigan Association of Compassion Centers.*

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