For Patterson council, medical marijuana poses HR challenges

PATTERSON — Like employers across Louisiana, the Patterson city government is grappling with a workplace dilemma: What employment policies are appropriate when marijuana is both an illegal drug and a legal medicine?

Patterson Human Resources Director Holden Murray told the City Council on Tuesday about some of those quandaries and will develop options for the council to consider.

Also at Tuesday’s regular meeting, the council agreed to hire a consulting firm to help handle more than $7 million in state money headed to Patterson for water and sewer system upgrades. The council also introduced an ordinance making a minor change in Acadian Ambulance’s lease to use the old City Hall as a substation.

The use of marijuana as a medical treatment has been technically legal in Louisiana since 1978. But it wasn’t until 2019 that the legal and supply structures were in place to allow the first dispensing of cannabis for medical purposes. The best known use is to ease the side effects of chemotherapy.

In 2022, the Legislature passed a series of laws involving medical marijuana that, among other things, handed regulatory authority to the Louisiana Department of Health.

Murray pointed to another 2022 law that is affecting employment policies: a bill by state Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, and signed by the governor that forbids discrimination against state employees registered with the state as medical marijuana users based on a positive drug test.

Murray described a thicket of personnel policy challenges resulting from the upswing in medical marijuana use. Some are relatively easy, such as a prohibition against being high at work or working in certain positions, such as the Police Department or the gas works.

The standard tests can determine whether people have used marijuana within the previous few weeks, but not whether they are intoxicated at a particular time.

There’s also the question of how to handle a standard pre-employment drug test in which a registered medical marijuana user tests positive. The Americans With Disabilities Act and U.S. Department of Transportation testing rules add wrinkles of their own.

Twenty-three states have fully legalized marijuana, and more have, like Louisiana, decriminalized the possession of small amounts.

But federal law continues to categorize marijuana as a Schedule I controlled dangerous substance, putting it alongside drugs such as heroin that are considered most dangerous and which carry the stiffest penalties for possession.

Also Tuesday:

—The council agreed to hire James Purpera Governmental Consulting to smooth the way for receiving money from the state government.

After the last legislative session, Patterson is due about $5 million for an upgrade to its new water plant and more than $2 million for sewer system improvements.

The city’s existing $5 million water plant was designed to provide potable water using fewer chemicals than conventional plants. After the meeting, Mayor Rodney Grogan said he believes that because state regulators aren’t familiar with the design, they’re asking for the upgrade to provide more filtering.

The city will pay $4,200 annually for bureaucratic help from Purpera, a former Louisiana legislative auditor.

—The ordinance introduced Tuesday changes the term of the lease with Acadian for use of the old City Hall. Acadian wants the term to coincide with its authorization to operate in St. Mary Parish. The current term expires in December 2024.

If the ordinance takes the usual path, it will come up for a public hearing and a passage vote at the Oct. 3 council meeting.

—Tuesday’s meeting was Politics Night in Patterson. Six candidates seeking parish offices in the Oct. 14 primary appeared to give short presentations, along with Jim Harvey of Morgan City, who says he’s running for president.

The candidates appearing Tuesday were incumbent Les Rulf and candidate Charles “Butchie” McKinley, running in Parish Council District 5; Parish President candidate Tim LeBlanc; Patterson City Accountant Reginald Weary and Angelena Brocato, running in Parish Council District 10; and Henry “Bo” LaGrange,
running in state Senate District 21.

—The Patterson High School Band Boosters got approval for fundraising can shakes 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 12 and Feb. 24.