Cancer Patient Fired by Walmart for Legally Using Medical Marijuana

[kpete]

Cancer Patient Fired by Walmart for Legally Using Medical Marijuana

Monday 15 March 2010

by: Mike Meno | AlterNet

Joseph Casias, 29, has an inoperable brain tumor. Last November, Walmart fired him after 5 years on the job because he tested positive for (legal) marijuana.

Despite his condition, he has dutifully gone to work every day for the last five years at a Walmart in Battle Creek, Michigan, where in 2008 he was named Associate of the Year.

Casias is also a legal medical marijuana patient under Michigan state law. He uses marijuana with the recommendation of his doctor to relieve the effects of cancer.

................

To add insult to injury, Walmart is now challenging Casias’ eligibility for unemployment. Simply outrageous. This is the thanks he gets for showing up to work and doing his job for the last five years, despite being stricken with a life-threatening illness. “I gave them everything,” Casias told a local news outlet. “One-hundred-ten percent every day. Anything they asked me to do I did. More than they asked me to do. Twelve to 14 hours a day.”

more:
http://www.truthout.org/cancer-patient-fired-walmart-legally-using-medical-marijuana57690

[Bill McBlueState]

1. But Wal-Mart's prices on select items may be somewhat lower than the competition's!

They must not be criticized!

[KansDem]

2. I wonder if Walmart has "dead peasant's insurance" on him

It's possible...

[asdjrocky]

3. Cannabis bigotry happens every single day.

I know people who have a recommendation from their doctors, in fact, the doctor will put it in writing that cannabis is the best drug for controlling their pain or symptoms, but if the job says no, then it's no.

The corporate giants want us dependent on big pharma.

[Echo In Light]

4. +1

[Trillo]

17. BigPharma? Maybe,

but it wouldn't explain the impulse to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions, and for corporate to back that up. So it could be part of the reason, but it isn't the whole reason.

It's amazing that WalMart is now also a doctor. I wonder in which state their corporate medical license is filed.

[Flubadubya]

5. Quelle surprise...

Oh, those fine, upstanding, open-minded, compassionate folks from Arkansas... NOT!!

[sallyseven]

6. I have never steped in Walmart and

I never will. I would have to be dead three days before I would even step in that stinking fascist store.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. Once upon a time, when old Sam Walton was running things, WalMart was

a fairly good business model. Their stock was comprised of only American made products, which kept factories in the US humming. Their workforce, though of course not unionized, was not badly paid compared to their competitors. Small communities welcomed a WalMart opening in the neighborhood - of course, at that time there might be only one in a county, not a half-dozen in a single town. Where a WalMart did open, the economy was large enough to sustain it without shutting own Main Street.

Today's WalMart is NOT that WalMart anymore. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been in WalMart in the past 15 years.

[47of74]

18. And people wonder why I don't shop there anymore

I've only been in a Wal-Mart once in the past six years. I don't shop there any more. I'd rather go out of my way or spend a few cents more than go to Wally World.

[Bozita]

7. Here's a video from a local newscast ...

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=119421&catid=14

[Trillo]

8. The business "hatred" of marijuana,

in this case, the medical variety, reminds me of the Christian Right's hatred of LGBT folks.

One wonders what it means for humanity when hatred is the dominately-revered emotion.

[Echo In Light]

10. Self-annihilation vis a vis slow motion apocalypse

[krabigirl]

21. Yes, but to be fair, the Christian right also hates medical marijuana..

[rcrush]

25. And I know quite a few that smoke and think they keep it secret.

[LynneSin]

9. In 10 years Wal-mart will be selling medical marijuana

Seriously!

[Bozita]

12. Only if it comes from China

[tridim]

13. Yep, the deal is probably already inked.

They might chose Mexico though.

[rcrush]

26. If Walmart is selling medical marijuana then it will probably kill you.

[tridim]

11. Walmart ALWAYS does the wrong thing.

Doesn't matter what it is, they always choose the worst possible option.

Their record is 100%. Why?

[Blue_In_AK]

14. This sort of thing has impacted even Lance Mackey,

who is on track to win his fourth Iditarod sled dog race within the next 24 hours. Lance is a throat cancer survivor, who has lost much of his salivary glands and has extensive nerve damage. He has a medical marijuana prescription to help with pain and his appetite, but the Iditarod Trail Committee decided to drug test the mushers for the first time ever this year, specifically targeting Lance (by all accounts), because some of the other mushers thought his smoking pot on the trail gave him an unfair advantage.

My reaction to that was, if they think it gives him an unfair advantage, they should smoke it, too. :rofl:

The good news is that the prohibition hasn't slowed him down, and he is leading by almost two hours. I think it's shameful that they singled him out this way, and I am thrilled that he's winning in spite of it. He's one tough hombre.

[TheMightyFavog]

20. Weed is not a performance enhancing drug...

Unless the Iditarod Committe decided to put a giant bag of Funyuns at the finish line...

[Regret My New Name]

16. Is this being driven by some faceless person in some office far away from the stores

or is it being done by some management type who has daily interactions with the guy? I don't see how someone who has had daily interactions with anyone could view this as a black and white sort of thing... Then again, I suppose some people can just be assholes...

[spanone]

19. if i were a lawyer i would gladly take on this case...

this is prescribed medication

[1776Forever]

22. OMG this deserves a lawsuit if I ever saw one! I think there is a place for them like this one!

I hope this man gets the best in the country to help him out! Damn when you read something like this it really pisses you off after see that Wal-Mart made this much last year:

▲ US$ 404.16 Billion (2009)

[supernova]

23. Did W-M take out Dead Peasant Insurance on him too?

MoFos.

:grr:

[usregimechange]

24. Not legal, federal gov supersedes