Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston, has told PBN that Statehouse negotiators on legislation to legalize recreational marijuana want to give businesses in Rhode Island similar protections to maintain a drug-free workplace as Connecticut approved earlier this year. These protections include allowing all employers to conduct marijuana testing of prospective employees and similar testing or “fitness for duty” evaluations of employees. Miller co-sponsored a bill legalizing adult use of recreational marijuana that was approved in the Senate but died in the House earlier this year. He says state Democratic leaders who have been meeting behind the scenes for months on new legislation also agree industries where marijuana use could present a clear safety hazard, such as manufacturing, should be exempted from any new restrictions on employers’ ability to prohibit marijuana use in or out of the workplace.
