Serving Saskatchewan
Since 1988
T: 306-931-9229
F: 306-931-4447
3320 Idylwyld Drive N
Saskatoon, SK
For more information, visit us online at
www.preconltd.ca
LEGAL MATTERS
Septic Tanks, Cisterns
Steps, Blocks, Planters
Parking Curbs, Barriers
Custom Arch., Structural
Catch Basin, Sump, Dykes
Burial Vaults, Memorial
Electrical Boxes, Bases
Fence/Soundwalls
Retaining Wall Block
Storm & Sanitary
Manholes
Sandwich Panels
Precast Grade Beams
No one loses when they’ve tried their best
compliments of Lorne, Doug, and staff at
BIG ROCK TRUCKING LTD.
SERVING SASKATCHEWAN
Aggregates Supply & Hauling
Box 418, Punnichy, SK • 306.835.2427
illegal to possess and traffic in “controlled
substances,” and marijuana is just one of
many on the list.
The list of “controlled substances” is di-vided.
Some are considered more serious
than others and possessing or trafficking in
those on the more serious list carries great-er
sanction. Marijuana isn’t even on the “re-ally
bad” list. It is certainly illegal, but it is a
Schedule II drug.
Justin Trudeau’s plan of legalizing mar-ijuana
isn’t new to Canada. In 2003, Jean
Chretien’s government introduced legisla-tion
which would have decriminalized the
possession of small amounts of marijua-na.
That legislation died when the United
States’ Drug Administration Agency threat-ened
to slow down border crossings into
their country.
In 2004, Paul Martin’s government intro-duced
similar legislation, which didn’t go
anywhere due to that government’s minor-ity
status.
Implications going
forward
The legalization of marijuana isn’t going to
change the existing challenges that using
the drug presents for employers in a safety-sensitive
industry. What it may do is create
more mainstream, frequent use, resulting
in employers dealing with users in their
workplaces.
Employment law and human rights law
already impose a number of restrictions on
employers when testing for or dealing with
marijuana use in the workplace. These re-strictions
are unlikely to be eliminated. If
anything, the legalization of the drug may
reinforce the restrictions on employers
even further.
In a safety-sensitive industry, many em-ployers
would like to drug test employees
before offering them a job, before giving
them access to a particular job site and
then randomly at any time while they are
working. Drug tests in those types of situ-ations
are usually going to be a problem for
employers from an employment law and
human rights perspective.
If the theory is that these kinds of tests
are designed to promote safety, the first
problem is that a pre-employment, pre-ac-cess
or random drug test may not tell the
employer anything. The big reason for this
is that the current technology for drug
testing has multiple problems:
The appropriateness of reasonable
grounds testing will depend on the
circumstances of each case…Employers
should be prepared to note and be able to
describe the grounds they acted upon.
42 Think BIG | Quarter 1 2017 | saskheavy.ca
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