Drive Change campaigner and lawyer Mat Henderson has responded critically to an article published in The West Australian that cast doubt on whether medicinal cannabis patients can perform effectively at work.
In a post on the Drive Change website, Henderson characterised the piece by Michael Stutley — a partner at workplace law firm Kingston Reid — as a "business development exercise that deserves a swift rebuttal from Drive Change".
Henderson takes particular issue with Stutley's assertion that, while impairment is "a vexed issue… there really is no safe level of THC", and that pathology laboratories "have no way of differentiating between medicinally prescribed THC or illicit sources".
"It's grossly unfair to question the origins of the THC in a positive workplace drug test where a prescription is provided," Henderson writes.
That said, Henderson does share Stutley's concern about the challenges employers encounter when workers present medical certificates, especially given the prevalence of telehealth consultations.
"Medical certificates involving a tick 'n' flick done over the phone or online?" he writes. "Fair to query what kind of employer would accept that at face value without something else to provide a more fleshed out expectation about what the overall WHS (work health and safety) risk would be."
