The city violated state law when it put the firefighter on unpaid leave for refusing to relinquish his medical cannabis card, according to a lawsuit. Several lawmakers agree.
Levi Coleman has been a firefighter for the Ogden City Fire Department for more than a decade.
But since September, Coleman has been on unpaid leave from the department, burning sick leave and vacation time, while trying to get reinstated. His offense: being prescribed medical cannabis.
He is now suing the city, trying to get his job back and recoup lost wages.
In June, Coleman was prescribed medical marijuana by a doctor. Two months later, Ogden City adopted a new drug and alcohol policy that required city employees to report if they are taking any prescription medication that might cause impairment if, by chance, they are called in from off-duty status.
Coleman, who is also a paramedic, complied, notifying Deputy Chief Michael Slater on Aug. 31 of the cannabis prescription. According to the lawsuit, he followed up two days later with a text message confirming the chief had seen the original e-mail.
Coleman alleges in the lawsuit that Ogden City is violating state law which says that medical cannabis is no different than any other medication prescribed by a doctor and that state and local entities “shall treat an employee’s use of medical cannabis … the same way the state or political subdivision treats employee use of any prescribed controlled substance.”
State law also prohibits an entity from taking action against an employee, as long as the employee is not impaired on the job.
“This firefighter is following state law. The employer is not,” said Jack Tidrow, president of the Professional Firefighters of Utah, which is representing Coleman.
“We just want to correct this as quick as we can.”
Coleman, Tidrow told me, is a top-notch firefighter, consistently scoring the highest in the department on the physical agility tests every year.
Brandon Crowther, an attorney representing the city on the matter, emphasized that Coleman is still employed and is trying to work through the issues.
“They haven’t made a final decision and are trying to work through balancing the safety of citizens and firefighters against the individual right of firefighters to use medical cannabis,” Crowther said.
Executive director Desiree Hennessy of medical marijuana advocacy organization Utah Patients Coalition said she is aware of three other Ogden firefighters who were put on paid leave and voluntarily relinquished their cannabis cards. She said she has also spoken with firefighters with the Unified Fire Department who did so, as well.
“We have our firemen and policemen who do have on-the-job trauma, mentally and physically,” Hennessy said.
“There’s no reason to restrict them from medical cannabis off-duty. We’ve never advocated for someone showing up using some kind of mind-altering medicine at work … but in this case they are using it…
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