Pre-employment drug screening - RI MMJ Patients

Submitted by FM_Windbag t3_124y3ct in RhodeIsland

Curious if any fellow RI medical Marijuana patients have advice on this.

I have a drug test coming up for a company that DOES have federal contracts. With that said, they conveyed to me that they DO test for Marijuana in addition to other drugs.

Even though the market has gone rec, I'm aware it's the company's discretion if they follow federal or state law. I have seen some information regarding protections for Medical Marijuana patients beyond what's provided to recreational users, though I'm not sure how this holds up for MMJ.

I reached out to a former colleague who works in HR who mentioned that I just show my MMJ card to the testing facility and it will be taken off the test and not disclosed to the employer (HIPAA).

Does anyone have experience passing a pre employment screening with this approach? Or should I just rely on the synthetic urine (done successfully before).

12

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

Into_the_groove t1_je1jzh4 wrote

No MMJ is still banned by federal law. Your card doesn't matter since the Federal Government considered it banned. Your drug test must be clean to pass.

​

Just did this a few months ago. MMJ card didn't help one bit, I had to retake the test again.

36

buddhamanjpb t1_je1khjf wrote

Your MMJ card doesn't matter to anything that has to do with Federal law since it's still a Schedule I drug. If it's worked for you before, go the synthetic route.

12

PigpenMcKernan t1_je1js3h wrote

Don’t know anything about showing your card and the facility will not show results for that (plus if they just left it off, wouldn’t that be obvious to the employer? Hey, we paid for you to do a 5 panel drug test including Marijuana, how come you didn’t test for the marijuana?)

And they can absolutely not hire you or even fire you later even if you have a medical card. There has been talk about passing legislation to protect medical or rec users from being fired or not hired based on marijuana usage, but to my knowledge it hasn’t gone anywhere. Hell, the RI Senate introduced a bill recently that would have back door returned us to prohibition.

8

Theo_dore229 t1_je265bb wrote

I think people are kind of misunderstanding what OP was trying to ask. There are 100% instances where people test positive for drugs and it’s removed from any report given to the employer. Painkillers, stimulants like adderall, and certain anti-anxiety medications will all show up on drug tests. If you provide a prescription for those medications when you fill out your paperwork prior to the drug test, they cannot reveal to the potential employer that you were taking those medications. It’s a HIPPA violation. On the flip side If someone has no prescriptions for those medications, then it will show that they tested positive for it.

This is what I believe OP is asking. If he has a medical marijuana card, will a positive marijuana result be treated like someone who is prescribed adderall and tests positive for amphetamine, or someone prescribed Vicodin, testing positive for opiates, etc. Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer. But I believe it likely varies quite a bit between employers, as there is no federal law like there is with HIPPA.

5

magentablue t1_je2esr7 wrote

I work in onboarding for a staffing agency and in my experience MMJ is not handled like prescription medications are, even if a medical card is presented. The notes will say a card was verified but the test will show as being flagged positive.

That being said, we work with a bunch of federal clients and some accept a positive MMJ test if you have a medical card.

5

PigpenMcKernan t1_je2fdze wrote

I understood his question and you are correct. It does not matter if you have a prescription for marijuana in the same way that a prescription for stimulants or painkillers would negate the positive test result. As long as marijuana is federally schedule 1 (or more likely as long as it’s scheduled at all) it won’t matter if you are using recreational or medically when it comes to employment.

3

fishythepete t1_je220uz wrote

A state law wouldn’t matter here anyway - OPs issue is because of a federal requirement, and the state attempting to prosecute someone for violating federal law would go poorly.

2

Artistic-Passenger-9 t1_je1l938 wrote

Card doesn’t matter. If you’re dealing with the feds pot it still illegal. You will fail your drug test. If this is a driving job that will get entered into the clearinghouse and you’ll most likely never hold a federally regulated driving job.

6

huh_phd t1_je1qyrp wrote

It's not federally legal. Just buy a bottle of quick fix and use that.

5

Puzzleheaded_Try1359 t1_je3jbnt wrote

Just get some fake urine at the head shop. Keep it in your waist band, and pour it in the sample cup

3

401jamin t1_je1szf6 wrote

I’ve used monkey whizz multiple times. I highly recommend.

2

Peacanpiepussycat t1_je2501c wrote

Don’t get fake pee ….. stop smoking , drink at least a gallon of water a day n get the detox drink they sell in head shops

2

BingBong022 t1_je27vy7 wrote

Get fake piss or drink the detox shit they sell on Amazon and at CVS/Walgreens. It will make you shit your brains out but works if you take it 2-4 hours before the test

2

DuePlatypus7760 t1_je2967y wrote

I work for an international company and they accepted my card. It's up to company discretion, but some companies don't care.

2

Special-Cat-5480 t1_je674nl wrote

I worked for a well know company that did yearly physicals and drug tests for years and after talking with HR with MMJ card in hand and them asking if I ever use while at work which was a definite no, I was excused from the yearly drug testing. A lot of people here giving false info.

1