Colorado Marijuana Laws & Considerations

Colorato was the first state to legalize recreational marijuana. A walk around downtown and many cannabils shops and the smell is in the air.. Traffic accident fatalities in Colorado have more then double since marijuana was legalized. Employers in Colorado can legally test employees for marijuana.

Medical Marijuana

Recreational Marijuana

Employer Concerns – Significant to Review

Employers are not required to accommodate medical or recreational use, consumption, possession, transfer, display, transportation, sale, or growing of marijuana in the workplace and employers have the right to restrict the use of marijuana by employees.
There is no specific drug testing law for employers in Colorado, however the city of Boulder has ordinances strongly impacting drug testing.
Employers have the right to maintain drug free workplace policies including restricting the use of marijuana as a condition of employment.
Employer drug free workplace policies should be reviewed and legal marijuana addressed.

Testing

Employment drug testing including marijuana is legal in Colorado.

Hiring/Termination

Employers may terminate an employee for a positive marijuana drug test even if use happened off the job and the employee has a valid medical marijuana card.

Discipline

Employers may terminate (and thereby discipline) an employee for a positive marijuana drug test even if use happened off the job and the employee has a valid medical marijuana card.

Use/Possession

Smoking is permitted.
It is illegal to ingest cannabis in a motor vehicle or drive under the influence.
In 2019, Colorado passed law to create business licenses for hospitality establishments where consumers can bring or ingest cannabis products. Without such a legal license, consumption is reserved for non-public areas.

Other Impacting Laws

(e.g., drug testing, workers’ compensation, unemployment)

For “Driving Under the Influence of Drugs” there is reasonable inference law with legal limit >0 ng/ml for THC. For “Impaired Driving” per marijuana-specific laws, there is reasonable inference for THC 5 ng/ml.
Colorado has unemployment and workers’ compensation voluntary laws with many details about drug testing. Although not required, these statutes provide greater latitude to deny workers’ compensation and unemployment claims.
- Unemployment denial – Benefits will not apply if the discharge is due to, (Colorado Revised Stat. 8- 73-108(5)(e)(VIII)) “…off-the-job use of non medically prescribed intoxicating beverages or controlled substances…” “…to a degree resulting in interference with job performance;” or , (Colorado Revised Stat. 8-73-108(5)(e)(IX)) “…on-the-job use of or distribution of not medically prescribed intoxicating beverages or controlled substances,” or a positive drug test per Colorado’s code.
- Per legal decision (Beinor v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office 2011 No. 10CA1685) law does not protect a registered medical marijuana user who tests positive from being denied unemployment benefits if it is in violation of an employers’ express zero-tolerance policy.
- Workers’ compensation denial – Benefits will not apply if the injured employee has a drug test result that is positive, at such a level, (Colorado Revised Stat. 8-42-112.5(2))“… it is presumed that the employee was intoxicated and that the injury was due to the intoxication.”

Apply the Checklist of Impacting Issues to Research provided by NDS for additional state laws and issues that can relate to and/or impact your operations regarding employee use of marijuana.

Sources

(e.g., Bill Number, Authority)

Colorado Constitution XVIII §14 – Medical marijuana law
Colorado Code 44-10-104 – Medical marijuana law
Colorado Constitution XVIII §16 – Recreational marijuana law
Colorado Rev. Stat. 8-73-108 – Unemployment related
Colorado Rev. Stat. 8-42-112 to 112.5 – Workers’ compensation law
Colorado Revised Statutes 18-18-102 – Definition of controlled substance
Colorado Rev. Stat. 42-4-1301 Section 25-1.5-106(2)(e), C.R.S. – Driving related
Coats v. Dish Network, 2015 CO 44. No. 13SC394 – Case law
Beinor v. Industrial Claim Appeals Office 2011 No. 10CA1685 – Case law

Disclaimer

This resource is designed to provide accurate information regarding the subject matter covered. It is provided with the understanding that those involved in the resource are not engaged in rendering legal counsel. If legal advice is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Caution

Where there are quotation marks, the language is directly from published law. This information is only a summary of some issues and it will benefit the reader to review the information in context (go to the law) and in relation to other laws (e.g. workers compensation, unemployment law).

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