DENVER — Workers for one of Colorado’s biggest marijuana businesses learned Wednesday they can be fired for smoking pot on the job or using cocaine any time.
The policy, the first of its kind for O.penVAPE, includes random testing for such drugs as cocaine and methamphetamines, but not for marijuana, company spokesman Todd Mitchem said. The two-year-old company employs more than 125 people in Colorado and sells its products in Colorado, California and Washington. The products include cartridges filled with cannabis oil and a battery-powered vaporizer that resembles a pen designed for cannabis-oil use.
Colorado has legalized the sale and use of marijuana. But under federal law, it is illegal and deemed dangerous, like cocaine. Mitchem said O.penVAPE sees a distinction between cannabis and other drugs, and enacted its policy after hearing what it believes are indications the federal government is open to changing rules that lump marijuana with LSD and heroin in terms of the seriousness of offenses associated with its use.
Kelly Brough, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, noted in an interview Wednesday that lower courts have upheld zero-tolerance drug workplace policies. The state Supreme Court is reviewing a case in which a quadriplegic medical-marijuana user is challenging being fired for failing a company drug test.