Smoking pot in Colorado is legal but can get you sacked

Pot may be legal in Colorado, but you can still be fired for using it.

The state’s Supreme Court has ruled five to one that a medical marijuana patient who was fired after failing a drug test cannot get his job back.

The case was watched closely by employers and pot smokers in states that have legalised medical or recreational marijuana.

Colorado became the fourth state in which courts have ruled against medical marijuana patients fired for pot use. Supreme courts in California, Montana and Washington state have made similar rulings.

The Colorado worker, Brandon Coats, is a quadriplegic who was fired by Dish Network after failing a drug test in 2010. The company agreed that Coats was not high on the job but said it has a zero-tolerance drug policy.

Coats argued that his pot smoking was allowed under a state law intended to protect employees from being fired for legal activities off the clock. Coats did not use marijuana at work, but pot’s intoxicating chemical, THC, can stay in the system for weeks.

The Colorado justices ruled that because marijuana is illegal under federal law, Coats’s use of the drug could not be considered legal off-duty activity.

“There is no exception for marijuana use for medicinal purposes, or for marijuana use conducted in accordance with state law,” the court wrote. Coats and his lawyers said after the ruling that the decision at least clarified the matter for workers.

“Although I’m very disappointed today, I hope that my case has brought the issue of use of medical marijuana and employment to light,” Coats said in a statement.