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Designed to provide you with timely information regarding ongoing anti-drug activities in the business community, key issues will include recent events affecting awareness and attitudes towards drug-use in the work environment. Although geared toward small business, the newsletter will contain a broad range of topics ranging from national trends, government policy, and recent findings to employee and parent education. We welcome your comments and suggestions and are looking forward to presenting you with the most current data you want and the important information you need. -- The publishers
California patients using local weed aren't exempt from federal drug laws, judge rules .
Bob
Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
© 2003 San Francisco Chronicle
In another legal setback for medical marijuana in California, a federal judge says two patients who used locally grown pot with their doctors' approval could face prosecution under federal drug laws.
In a ruling made public Monday, U.S. District Judge Martin Jenkins expressed sympathy for the two women, for whom "traditional medicine has utterly failed." But he said the federal ban on marijuana applied to everyone, including patients using drugs that never cross state lines.
One plaintiff, Angel Raich of Oakland, suffers from painful and life- threatening conditions, including a brain tumor, wasting syndrome and a seizure disorder, said Robert Raich, her attorney and husband.
The second, Diane Monson of Oroville (Butte County), who uses marijuana to ease chronic back pain and muscle spasms, was the target of a raid in August in which federal agents seized and destroyed her six plants. Both say marijuana is the only substance that has helped them.
Neither has been prosecuted, but both filed civil suits in October seeking injunctions that would prohibit federal prosecution. Their attorneys said they would appeal.
PCP Making A Comeback, Infiltrating Rave Scene
Insight Magazine (2/17, Maier) reports, "Incredibly, today PCP is back, bringing with it a torrent of violence and filling courtrooms with horror stories.
In Washington alone there were 203 crime-related PCP cases in 2002 compared to just 31 in 1999. Nationwide, there were more than 6,000 PCP-related emergency-room visits in 2001 compared to about half that number in 1996. ... Today it is referred to as 'dippers' because users dip a cigarette or marijuana joint into a PCP-laced liquid they call 'water,' says Washington-based private investigator Sharon Weidenfeld, who studies about 30 murder cases a year."
Insight continues, "However, PCP now is being trafficked differently and with a new urban myth. No longer is it confined to the metropolitan underbelly - it has become the latest club drug at suburban 'rave' parties.
Source: ONDCP Briefing News
Alcohol
Can Cut or Raise Strokes Risk
2/6/2003
" Light to moderate alcohol consumption may be protective against stroke,
while heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk," said Kristi Reynolds,
a doctoral student at Tulane University and co-author of a new study.
CNN reported Feb. 4 that researchers announced their findings after reviewing 35 studies from 1983 to 2002. The study found that those who drank one or two drinks a day lowered their risk of ischemic stroke by 28 percent over nondrinkers.
At the same time, the researchers found that heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk of a stroke by 69 percent.
SAMHSA
Supreme Court strikes workers' comp. drug-testing statute
Voting 4-3, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a portion of
Ohio's workers' compensation law that permitted testing injured workers
for drug and alcohol use.
Justice Paul E. Pfeifer wrote the court's opinion. Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, and Justices Deborah L. Cook and Evelyn Lundberg Stratton dissented.
Legislative amendments that became effective in April 2001 made it possible for employers to deny workers' compensation benefits to any employee whose injury was caused his intoxication or use of a controlled substance. An employee's refusal to be tested would act as a presumption that he was intoxicated or under the influence at the time of his injury.
The court's decision grants a request by Ohio labor unions that the state Bureau of Workers' Compensation and Industrial Commission be prohibited from enforcing the amendments. The unions request came in the form of a complaint for a writ of mandamus made directly to the Supreme Court. Such writs are considered extraordinary legal remedies.
The majority opinion rejects state claims that the Ohio AFL-CIO and United Auto Workers did not have standing, or the legal right, to file the case. The state asserted that the unions could demonstrate only potential harm to their members, not the direct and concrete injury necessary to confer standing on a party.
Dear Editor:
I manage a busy restaurant in a local college town. Not long ago, the owner decided to implement a drug free workplace program because he heard it might lower our insurance rates, and improve our safety record. In the process we ended up losing half our staff. I fought him on it and asked him to quit testing, because I was convinced that we would lose more people to our competitors, who do not test. He persisted, and we continue to drug test. To our surprise, we noticed that the morale and productivity of our team improved. We are busier than ever, and our customers go out of their way to tell us how great our employees are. Thank you for telling others about the benefits of having a drug free workplace. I only wish we had known sooner.
Signed,
Content
in college town
Dear Content:
Working for a company that is alcohol and drug free does have a lot of advantages. Employers who maintain alcohol-and drug-free workplaces do more than just protect their business assets- they contribute to the improved safety, health and well being of their workforce. Employees benefit from knowing that a drug free workplace program applies not only to them, but also to all the coworkers and managers on whom their safety and security depends. Take a moment to consider the positive impact a drug-free environment has on:
Safety- Employees in drug-free environments have a greater confidence that their workplaces are safe...Think about the catering staff who must drive to a particular job site.
Health- Employees in drug-free environments take comfort in knowing that their workplace is healthy…Consider the restaurant owner who knows his own health won’t be compromised because he has to work a double shift to cover for a colleague who regularly calls in due to a hangover.
Productivity- Employees in drug-free environments are reassured that their workplaces are productive…Think about the restaurant’s busiest times.
Morale- Employees in drug-free workplaces are pleased to be part of a team that gets the job done and enjoy the benefits of higher morale…Picture the waiter who arrives for work each day with the knowledge that the level of customer care won’t suffer due to a coworker’s abuse of alcohol or other drugs.
Security- Employees in drug-free workplaces appreciate that their employer’s policies make them more secure…Consider the restaurant associate who doesn’t worry that the cash register she shares will be short at the end of the day because a coworker steals to support a drug habit.
Well-Being- Employees
in drug-free workplaces feel an enhanced sense of well-being…Think
about the chef who worked hard to achieve recovery and finds that his
supportive work environment plays an important role in his continued
sobriety and success.
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