Big Colorado pot business bans drug use at work

Workers for one of Colorado’s biggest marijuana businesses can be fired for smoking pot on the job, or using cocaine any time.

The employees learned Wednesday of the policy at O.penVAPE, which sells cartridges filled with cannabis oil and other products in Colorado, California and Washington.

Colorado has legalized the sale and use of marijuana. But under federal law it is illegal and deemed dangerous, like cocaine. O.penVAPE, which employs more than 125 people in Colorado, says it sees a distinction between cannabis and other drugs.

Denver chamber of commerce president Kelly Brough notes lower courts have upheld zero-tolerance drug workplace policies. The state Supreme Court is reviewing a case in which a quadriplegic medical-marijuana user is challenging being fired for failing a company drug test.