Q&AZ: Can Arizona Workers Still Be Fired For Marijuana Use After Prop 207?

By Vaughan Jones
Published: Sunday, February 28, 2021 - 5:10am
Updated: Monday, April 19, 2021 - 1:10pm

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Marijuana cannabis flower
Tim Agne/KJZZ
A worker processes cannabis flower grown for medical consumption at Copperstate Farms in Snowflake in 2019.

Proposition 207 recently legalized the use of recreational marijuana for those 21 and older in Arizona.

Through KJZZ's Q&AZ Project, one listener asked: Can workers get fired in Arizona for using marijuana, even if it’s legal to consume in the state?

Prop 207 legalized recreational cannabis use in Arizona but it left the monitoring and enforcement of marijuana policy to employers.

Arizona Cannabis Bar Association President Gary Smith says employers are still able to enforce the same policies as before.

“Arizona employers are still absolutely free to employ and to enforce drug-free workplace policies, and this can include terminating employment or withholding employment if there is drug use,” said Smith.

Smith added that medical marijuana cards provide some employment protections that don’t apply to recreational use, but those protections still aren’t very broad.

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