When a crew coach at a quick meals restaurant instructed her supervisor she had not too long ago been prescribed medical hashish, she got here ready. She defined her situation, recommended that she’d favor to not work close to the grill instantly after medicating, and offered a replica of her prescription.
Regardless of her efforts to deal with the scenario transparently and professionally, her supervisor questioned the legitimacy of the prescription, a letter detailing what she was taking, why, and each attainable facet impact.
One other medical hashish affected person was known as in for a gathering 4 months after declaring his medical hashish prescription to his supervisor. They have been subjected to a drug and alcohol take a look at and suspended on full pay pending a threat evaluation.
After failing a take a look at for hashish, he, too, was requested to supply a letter from his physician explaining what the treatment was, what it was for, and the way it may have an effect on him at work. In a Reddit publish explaining his scenario, the affected person famous: “Very first thing to do is contact my union.”
There are myriad comparable examples, sufferers both fighting whether or not to be clear about their prescriptions or going through employment points for doing so. It’s no shock that commerce unions, which exist to guard employees from precisely this form of scenario, are sometimes the primary level of contact in such circumstances.
Whereas unions are undoubtedly there to assist employees in conditions like these, how a lot assist they will really present in the end will depend on how a lot the individual on the opposite finish of the cellphone is aware of about medical hashish.
Loads of consideration has been paid to educating police forces, medical professionals and even employers themselves, however unions themselves are sometimes ignored on the subject of outreach from the trade on behalf of their sufferers.
A Acquainted Sample
In accordance with one of many UK’s largest medical hashish clinics, Releaf, these circumstances are all too commonplace. Rupa Shah, Releaf’s Chief Authorized and Compliance Officer, instructed Enterprise of Hashish: “A typical case includes a affected person who has examined optimistic in a office drug screening, usually with out realising their lawful prescription would set off it.
“They’re positioned on suspension or face disciplinary motion earlier than anybody considers whether or not they maintain a sound prescription. In lots of circumstances, the employer’s drug coverage hasn’t been up to date since earlier than medical hashish was legalised in 2018.
“The affected person is left feeling criminalised for following their physician’s remedy plan. That’s precisely why we constructed Releaf Defend, so sufferers can instantly converse to a authorized skilled who understands the particular interaction between the Misuse of Medication Act, the Equality Act, and office well being and security obligations.”
Releaf Defend was launched earlier this 12 months, a 24/7 authorized help service developed in partnership with Irwin Mitchell particularly to assist sufferers navigate troublesome conditions like these.
When the clinic mapped the place sufferers most wanted assist, employment points emerged as one of many prime classes. The sectors that seem most steadily embrace transport, logistics, building, safety, NHS and care employees, and academics.
“The frequent thread isn’t the sector,” Shah continued. “It’s whether or not the employer has a coverage that distinguishes between a prescribed treatment and leisure drug use. Most don’t.”
On paper, that is precisely the hole unions are positioned to fill, however proper now, unions are in the identical place as these employers, they’re merely unaware that hashish is a legitimately prescribed treatment within the UK. As soon as once more, because of the distinctive dynamics of the UK’s trade, the onus to rectify this information hole falls on the trade itself.
“Via Releaf Defend, our 24/7 authorized help service powered by Irwin Mitchell, we already help sufferers navigating employment-related points that sit squarely in union territory: office discrimination, unfair dismissal linked to prescriptions, and failure to make affordable changes below the Equality Act 2010. The info from our helpline tells us that is the place sufferers want essentially the most assist, and unions are a pure ally in that effort.”
Medical hashish clinics like Releaf, in line with Shah, ‘have the information, the authorized partnership, and the affected person base’ educate union reps. “We’re able to work with any union that desires to get forward of this.”
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Six Million Causes
In accordance with the Division for Enterprise and Commerce’s Commerce Union Statistics 2024, there are 6.4m commerce union members within the UK, representing an total membership density of twenty-two% of the workforce.
That membership is closely concentrated in exactly the sectors Releaf’s knowledge suggests medical hashish sufferers are most probably to come across office friction.
Union density in training stands at 45%, public administration and defence at 42.3%, well being and social work at 36.5%, and transport at 34.8%.
NHS England alone employs 2.03m individuals in line with its personal workforce statistics, nearly all of whom are lined by Agenda for Change, the collectively bargained phrases and situations that govern NHS employment.
Apply a conservative continual ache prevalence estimate of 15%, drawn from figures revealed by the British Ache Society, to the full union membership base of 6.4 million, and also you arrive at a possible pool of round 960,000 individuals with union illustration who could also be dwelling with situations for which medical hashish is more and more being prescribed.
Proper now, Prohibition Companions estimates the UK affected person inhabitants to be round 90,000. With this in thoughts, Shah believes focused and significant training of employees’ union reps might have a ‘important’ affect on the continued points confronted by sufferers.
“If unions started proactively educating their reps on how you can help members with medical hashish prescriptions, and in the event that they pushed employers to replace their drug and alcohol insurance policies to differentiate between prescribed and leisure use, we’d see a major shift. Not only for hashish sufferers, however for the broader precept that nobody ought to face skilled penalties for following a authorized medical remedy plan.
“Releaf’s function is to make that as simple as attainable, by way of scientific experience, authorized help through Releaf Defend, and the form of employer-facing sources that unions can really use.
Normalisation is rising
In February 2025, the CWU’s United Tech and Allied Employees (UTAW) department handed a movement on cannabis-based medicinal merchandise that represents essentially the most substantive union motion on the problem so far.
The movement, proposed by department officer Sal Aziz and handed with the help of PatientsCann UK, commits the department to briefing members on the excellence between prescribed and leisure hashish, coaching representatives to help members going through discrimination, pushing for drug testing coverage reform with employers, and interesting with the Labour Social gathering on the problem at a nationwide degree.
It’s a template for what proactive union engagement appears like, and got here from inside the union itself, pushed by a rep who understood the problem as a result of they’d seen it have an effect on members immediately.
Shah says the urge for food for this sort of structured engagement is there, however that the there’s nonetheless work to be performed.
“The Hashish Business Council revealed its steerage for employers and workers in September 2023, which was an vital first step. However what’s wanted now’s sector-specific, sensible and actionable steerage – one thing an HR division can really drop into their coverage handbook.
“Generic ideas in regards to the Equality Act are useful, however an HR director at an NHS Belief would want totally different steerage to at least one at a logistics agency or a faculty.”
The UTAW movement is a begin. However one department movement doesn’t replace 6.4 million members’ drug and alcohol insurance policies. That work nonetheless wants doing, and proper now, the clinics treating these sufferers are finest positioned to assist.
