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July 26, 2023
Beginning August 1, 2023, individuals who are 21 years of age or older may possess or transport up to two ounces of cannabis flower in public and possess up to two pounds of cannabis flower in their private residences. See 2023 Minn. H.F. No. 100.
The new law amends Minnesota’s Consumable Products Act (CPA), which prohibits employers from refusing to hire applicants or disciplining or discharging employees who use lawful consumable products outside of work. The term “lawful consumable products” under the CPA will now include cannabis flower, cannabis products, lower-potency hemp edibles, and hemp-derived consumer products.
Employers: all control is not lost. You still may prohibit employees from using, possessing, selling, transferring, or being impaired while working, while on your premises, or while operating your vehicles or equipment. You also may continue to prohibit the use of “lawful consumable products” if allowing them would violate another federal or state law or negatively impact your benefits under federal law.
But note, Employers: drug testing rules will change. The new law changes the Minnesota Drug and Alcohol Testing in the Workplace Act (DATWA) as applied to “lawful consumable products.”
In general, you no longer may request pre-employment cannabis testing or refuse to hire an applicant solely because the applicant tested positive for cannabis. Nor may you require routine physical examination cannabis testing for most positions.
We say “most positions” because you may continue cannabis testing for certain positions, including, among others, those that are safety-sensitive. You also may continue reasonable-suspicion cannabis testing and treatment program cannabis testing.
What Employers should do: Review and update your hiring procedures and drug testing policies, and train your managers and human resources professionals, to comply with the new law.
*Special thanks to Brooke Palma, our Office Administrator, for her contributions to this article.
The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
