Companies prepare policies to deal with medical pot

PHOENIX -- Arizona's medical marijuana law takes effect within days, and employers are figuring out how to deal with workers who are medical pot users.

Modern Industries in Tempe, which manufactures products for the semiconductor and aerospace industries, is looking at its policies.

"The law is very specific in that companies do not have to chance their policy to allow anyone to be under the influence," said Human Resources Director Tony Abraham. "Certainly, in a manufacturing facility, we want to be careful that people are not under the influence while they're doing their job or working any of the machinery back there because they could get hurt."

Abraham said there will be more pressure on supervisors to recognize when their workers might be impaired.

"This is going to put a little more onus on the supervisors to be aware of their employees -- how they're acting, how they're performing, whether there's a chance from one day to the next in their demeanor, in their behavior."

Abraham said workers at Modern Industries deal with acid and other dangerous substances which requires they be alert and focused.

"The bottom line is going to be taking care of the employee, making sure their needs are met, but also keeping them and our other employees safe."

Leathers Milligan & Associates is a human resources consulting firm.

Jack Milligan isn't worried that he'll encounter a medical marijuana problem in his small company, but he is concerned about how his company will advise its larger clients.

"They (clients) have to think about their policies, about their approaches to this," Milligan said. "They have to think through, in a pro-active way, how they're going to train their managers, their executives and their supervisors to respond to situations when they happen."