New testing kit could be game changer for medical marijuana patients in the workplace

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Being a medical marijuana patient in Louisiana comes with its own set of risks. Right now, private employers essentially have the final say in what their marijuana policies are in the workplace.

Testing has been a hot topic, and today the conversation just got more interesting.

“Well, there’s some exciting developments that are occurring with this including technologies that are actually being tested in the field now or been approved for testing in the field in, I believe it’s Yorktown, Pennsylvania,” said Chairman of one of the subcommittees Kevin Caldwell.

The state medical marijuana task force, in their meeting this morning reviewed how this new testing kit could push the program even further.

“This new Canadian technology will actually be able to tell if a person has consumed in the last 2 to 3 hours which is a much better way of judging whether or not they’re under the influence or impaired by cannabis use,” Caldwell added.

The new technology is out of its beta testing phase and has moved into field testing.

According to the chairman, many companies are working to develop the same thing only this one has shown the most promise. And if it becomes available before the next regular session, it could help ease concerns from the Sheriff’s Association about impaired driving and machine operating.

“We’ve heard those concerns from the Sheriff’s Association, we’ve listened to those concerns and if this technology or the, as I said, several other technologies that are working on this come to fruition we would certainly hope that would satisfy a lot of their concerns,” Caldwell explained.

The full task force will meet on Tuesday, November 29 where they expect to have a ton of public testimony particularly from first responders who would like to be able to enroll in the program.

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