Highlighting unique challenges for certain employees precluded from using medical marijuana

BuzzFeed News has this lengthy new article about employment law limitations on use of medical marijuana.  The lengthy full headline of the lengthy article serves as an effective summary: "This Firefighter Took A Doctor’s Advice To Use Medical Marijuana — Now He Could Be Fired: Medical marijuana is off-limits for police officers, firefighters, truck drivers, and millions of other workers in safety-sensitive jobs, even in states where it’s legal. These employees face a tough choice: Live with pain, or lose their job." Here is an excerpts from the start of the article:

Employees ... in jobs categorized as “safety-sensitive” — which include the millions of truck drivers, police, firefighters, paramedics, people who operate heavy machinery, airline employees, and others who are responsible for people's health or well-being — face additional hurdles. Their employers almost always have zero-tolerance drug policies, leaving workers with little choice but to swap medical cannabis for opiates or other pharmaceuticals.

At a time when the opioid epidemic is ravaging US cities and towns, supporters of medical cannabis say policies like the one that got [fire-fighter Brad] Wiltshire in trouble are outdated and dangerous. After all, tranquilizers and prescription pain pills can also affect a person's ability to do a job safely.  After his diagnosis, Wiltshire was prescribed a tranquilizer that came loaded with warnings against operating heavy machinery or driving until the user knew it was safe to do so.  Over time, he said, the tranquilizers stopped working as effectively, so he turned to medical cannabis. Not only did it help him deal with breakthrough pain, it also helped him sleep.