Abstract

Drug use in the workplace can pose legal and ethical challenges for employers and their employees. In this case, Fred is a long-term employee of the James Bay Logging Company who recently returned to the workplace after extensive cancer treatment. Back on the job, he experienced debilitating joint pain, a side effect of his treatments. Fred’s decision to self-medicate with marijuana for pain management poses risks for people and property in his position as a logging truck operator and a moral dilemma for his employer with their zero-tolerance drug policy. The purpose of this case is for students to examine the competing interests a company faces in trying to fairly enforce their drug policy in the context of medical marijuana in the workplace and showing care and compassion to a long-term employee who violated this policy.