As Connecticut lawmakers take another crack at legalizing marijuana and Gov. Ned Lamont moves to establish a regulatory apparatus, supporters are running into opposition from manufacturers and defense contractors alarmed that employees, with cannabis in their systems, could show up for work off their game.
Kevin Graney, president of Electric Boat, was the most recent executive to weigh in.
“For me it’s a nonstarter,” he said at the submarine manufacturer’s annual meeting to provide its outlook for the year. "I want to make sure that people coming to work on a daily basis are completely capable of doing that job and we are very, very focused on safety.
“The ships that we build go down to great depths with nuclear reactors … and more importantly our precious sailors,” Graney said. “For me, there’s no equivocating about it. I’m against it for those reasons.”
State Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, an opponent of legalized marijuana, asked Graney for his opinion. In an interview, she said that because manufacturing is a strong sector in Connecticut’s weak economy, lawmakers must consider the possible impact of marijuana on the workplace.
“This is something we have to consider if it affects a bright spot in Connecticut,” Cheeseman said.
Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, a backer of legalized marijuana, dismissed that argument.
“I think it’s a legitimate concern if someone comes to work impaired,” he said. “With liquor you don’t go to work drunk.”
Eleven states and Washington, D.C., have legalized small amounts of marijuana for adult recreational use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Connecticut established a medical marijuana program in 2012.
Defense contractors such as Electric Boat have another reason to oppose legalized marijuana. They are required to operate a workplace free of controlled substances under a1988 federal law. Many employees are required to have security clearances for their jobs and may not use or possess cannabis.
Representatives of Electric Boat, a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corp., helicopter maker Sikorsky Aircraft of Lockheed Martin Corp. and United Technologies Corp., which makes engines for the F-35 fighter jet, urged lawmakers last year to include provisions in cannabis legislation that do not provide employee protections for recreational use of marijuana.
Several states “have not afforded employment protections for recreational users and have actually acknowledged in their laws that employers and specifically federal contractors, can operate our businesses as we see appropriate, comply with federal laws and follow our federal contracts,” they said in testimony to the legislature in March 2019.
Mark Soycher, a human resources attorney at the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said the issue of drug use by employees raises questions about how far managers may reach into workers’ private lives.
“Some companies have been struggling to hire workers and are finding higher levels of drugs in pre-employment screening,” he said.
After interviews, bosses are overlooking that, Soycher said.
In Colorado, where recreational marijuana has been legal since 2014, employers may drug test at any time and may fire a worker intoxicated by liquor or marijuana, said Loren Furman, senior vice president of state and federal government affairs at the Colorado Chamber of Commerce. The state Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that a business may fire an employee for using medical marijuana even if the employee is off-duty and following state law,
With mining, aerospace, machinery and other high-risk jobs, businesses are “very sensitive to what happens with on-the-job safety,” she said.
Legislation to legalize marijuana emerged from three committees last year but didn’t make it to the House of Representatives, where the measure began. Elliott is unsure a similar measure will fare better in the legislative session that ends May 6. It’s an election year, which could present unwelcome issues such as marijuana legalization for lawmakers seeking re-election.
“It’s the same legislature it was last year,” Elliott said. “The only reason it would get across the finish line is if people change their minds.”
A conservative revenue estimate from marijuana sales is $30 million a year, he said. Elliott is not making an issue of it because he said it’s not the reason he’s backing legalized marijuana and the estimate could be off.
Lamont’s budget does not account for marijuana taxes but he proposed spending $275,362 for the Department of Consumer Protection to fund two permanent positions and a temporary job to develop regulations for legal marijuana sales. He says the state must take a regional approach, with recreational marijuana already legal in Massachusetts and the New York and Rhode Island legislatures considering legalization.
The governor’s plan foresees marijuana sales beginning no earlier than July 1, 2022, after the consumer protection agency and legislature make recommendations for the “most sensible and equitable regulatory and sales structure,” he said in his budget recommendations he submitted Wednesday.
Legalizing marijuana has high-level backing in the legislature. Senate President Pro-Tem Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said it’s inevitable Connecticut will “move in the direction” of legalization.
“Just as prohibition of alcohol for the 14 years it was tried, prohibition of marijuana has also failed,” he said. “We should learn lessons in history.”
Kevin Graney, president of Electric Boat, was the most recent executive to weigh in.
“For me it’s a nonstarter,” he said at the submarine manufacturer’s annual meeting to provide its outlook for the year. "I want to make sure that people coming to work on a daily basis are completely capable of doing that job and we are very, very focused on safety.
“The ships that we build go down to great depths with nuclear reactors … and more importantly our precious sailors,” Graney said. “For me, there’s no equivocating about it. I’m against it for those reasons.”
State Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, an opponent of legalized marijuana, asked Graney for his opinion. In an interview, she said that because manufacturing is a strong sector in Connecticut’s weak economy, lawmakers must consider the possible impact of marijuana on the workplace.
“This is something we have to consider if it affects a bright spot in Connecticut,” Cheeseman said.
Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, a backer of legalized marijuana, dismissed that argument.
“I think it’s a legitimate concern if someone comes to work impaired,” he said. “With liquor you don’t go to work drunk.”
Eleven states and Washington, D.C., have legalized small amounts of marijuana for adult recreational use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Connecticut established a medical marijuana program in 2012.
Defense contractors such as Electric Boat have another reason to oppose legalized marijuana. They are required to operate a workplace free of controlled substances under a1988 federal law. Many employees are required to have security clearances for their jobs and may not use or possess cannabis.
Representatives of Electric Boat, a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corp., helicopter maker Sikorsky Aircraft of Lockheed Martin Corp. and United Technologies Corp., which makes engines for the F-35 fighter jet, urged lawmakers last year to include provisions in cannabis legislation that do not provide employee protections for recreational use of marijuana.
Several states “have not afforded employment protections for recreational users and have actually acknowledged in their laws that employers and specifically federal contractors, can operate our businesses as we see appropriate, comply with federal laws and follow our federal contracts,” they said in testimony to the legislature in March 2019.
Mark Soycher, a human resources attorney at the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said the issue of drug use by employees raises questions about how far managers may reach into workers’ private lives.
“Some companies have been struggling to hire workers and are finding higher levels of drugs in pre-employment screening,” he said.
After interviews, bosses are overlooking that, Soycher said.
In Colorado, where recreational marijuana has been legal since 2014, employers may drug test at any time and may fire a worker intoxicated by liquor or marijuana, said Loren Furman, senior vice president of state and federal government affairs at the Colorado Chamber of Commerce. The state Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that a business may fire an employee for using medical marijuana even if the employee is off-duty and following state law,
With mining, aerospace, machinery and other high-risk jobs, businesses are “very sensitive to what happens with on-the-job safety,” she said.
Legislation to legalize marijuana emerged from three committees last year but didn’t make it to the House of Representatives, where the measure began. Elliott is unsure a similar measure will fare better in the legislative session that ends May 6. It’s an election year, which could present unwelcome issues such as marijuana legalization for lawmakers seeking re-election.
“It’s the same legislature it was last year,” Elliott said. “The only reason it would get across the finish line is if people change their minds.”
A conservative revenue estimate from marijuana sales is $30 million a year, he said. Elliott is not making an issue of it because he said it’s not the reason he’s backing legalized marijuana and the estimate could be off.
Lamont’s budget does not account for marijuana taxes but he proposed spending $275,362 for the Department of Consumer Protection to fund two permanent positions and a temporary job to develop regulations for legal marijuana sales. He says the state must take a regional approach, with recreational marijuana already legal in Massachusetts and the New York and Rhode Island legislatures considering legalization.
The governor’s plan foresees marijuana sales beginning no earlier than July 1, 2022, after the consumer protection agency and legislature make recommendations for the “most sensible and equitable regulatory and sales structure,” he said in his budget recommendations he submitted Wednesday.
Legalizing marijuana has high-level backing in the legislature. Senate President Pro-Tem Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said it’s inevitable Connecticut will “move in the direction” of legalization.
“Just as prohibition of alcohol for the 14 years it was tried, prohibition of marijuana has also failed,” he said. “We should learn lessons in history.”
