30 Best Marijuana Policies & Procedures for the Workplace

The Hospice & Home Care Webinar Network has teamed up with Nancy Flynn of the ePolicy Institute and Marijuana Policy Institute to bring you the latest webinar on covering employee use and handling of marijuana policies.

Below is a list of Nancy’s 30 Best Marijuana Policies & Procedures to ensure your agency is compliant and that your employees and customers are safe.

1. Create thoroughly researched, up-to-date marijuana policies and procedures.
2. Include rules governing CBD and hemp-derived products.
3. Address federal, state, and local laws governing recreational and medical marijuana use, possession, distribution, testing, administration, storage, accommodation, and penalties.
4. Discuss industry and government regulations governing recreational and medical marijuana use and testing.
5. Track court decisions statewide and nationwide. Court rulings may impact policy updates and business decisions.
6. If you operate in multiple states, determine whether one universal marijuana policy works, or if you need separate policies and procedures for each state.
7. Focus on prohibiting marijuana use, possession, and impairment in the workplace.
8. Approach marijuana as you do alcohol. You may not use marijuana at work. You may not drink alcohol at work. You may not be high or intoxicated at work.
9. Discuss on-the-job and off-duty marijuana-related risks, rules, regulations, and requirements.
10. If using existing drug-testing, zero-tolerance, or drug-free workplace policies to prohibit marijuana use, add marijuana-specific language: For the purposes of the organization’s drug-testing policy, the definition of illegal drugs includes medical marijuana.
11. If you opt not to prohibit marijuana, establish and enforce impairment-free rules.
12. Strictly prohibit impairment by marijuana, illegal drugs, or alcohol while at work or on the organization’s premises.
13. Include language about the abuse of prescription drugs, including medical marijuana.
14. If you remove marijuana prohibitions, do so with the understanding that safety claims may increase.
15. Write in plain English. Be clear and conversational. No legalese or gobbledygook.
16. Be specific: Leave no room for individual interpretation of your policy and procedures.
17. Take a considered approach to testing. Weigh the pros and cons of screening staff and applicants.
18. Multistate employers should consider testing for marijuana only as required by law or regulations.
19. Discuss mandatory testing for safety-sensitive positions and as required by federal law, Drug-Free Workplace Act, DOT.
20. As allowed by state law, consider testing employees when there is a reasonable suspicion — observed by at least two managers — of workplace impairment.
21. Train managers to recognize signs of impairment and adhere to formal testing policy and procedures.
22. Put some teeth in your policy. Impose disciplinary action, up to and including employment termination, for policy violations.
23. Consider making reasonable accommodations for medical marijuana cardholders, in relation to testing, impairment, discipline, expectations, compassionate care, and anti-discrimination law.
24. Weigh employee assistance programs (EAPs), counseling, or treatment as alternatives to terminating otherwise-valuable employees who test positive for marijuana use.
25. Conclude the policy with a mandatory — signed and dated — employee acknowledgment form.
26. Have Legal review marijuana policy and procedures pre-distribution to employees.
27. Support policy with organization-wide training to help ensure 100% compliance.
28. Educate all employees — entry-level staff to C-Suite executives — about marijuana risks, laws, policy, and procedures.
29. Enforce marijuana policy, testing, and penalties equally, regardless of employee rank, title, popularity, tenure.
30. Contact Nancy Flynn’s Marijuana Policy InstituteTM for help with writing policies and training employees. Visit the website at www.marijuanapolicyinstitute.com.