California employers can fire over medical marijuana

The highest court in the state of California has ruled in favor of companies who fire employees using marijuana. Even if that drug is being prescribed in a medicinal nature, employers can still let their workers go. Ragingwire Inc. fired one of their own for using the substance to treat back pain.

This is sure to cause some controversy, but a 5-2 ruling supports the justices' decision. The company argues that pot is still illegal from a federal standpoint, and California laws don't change that. They have a good point, because if a national corporation were to employ a drug-using individual, they could possibly lose federal contracts.

Besides, would you feel safe working with someone under that influence? What if they were regularly using Valium and operating machinery? Since the employee was recommended this use by a doctor, he shouldn't have been at work and rather taken off time to recover like any other injury. California has seen its fair share of discrimination complaints about this issue, so its obvious the problem won't go away any time soon.