Local businesses making policy changes for new medical marijuana laws

Experts on the federal and state level are working to educate Missouri employers about the state’s new medical marijuana laws.

“It’s going to be a little different for everybody, its taking a look at what you’re comfortable with if you are the owner of a small business to your large businesses, what does this mean with a couple of thousand of employees or a couple hundred employees,” said Matt McCormick, the president of Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and University of Missouri Extension held a Labor Law Lunch in Kansas City on Wednesday to talk about the new law.

Matt Pezold, a field specialist in labor and workforce development with MU Extension, said the lunch is “an overview of the implications of the new medical marijuana laws and how they’re going to impact workers. Also, how different states have implemented it.”

Pezold said the lunch included a panel with a legal specialist that will discuss the impact on Missouri labor.
One locally owned pizza chain manager thinks the transition won’t affect the company’s hiring process too much.

Kurt Mirtsching, a manager at Shakespeare’s said, “I don’t think the new laws are going to influence our decisions much at all. We try to hire folks that smile, know how to serve, make a pizza.”

McCormick said, “So, a lot of the questions are, ‘do you have to allow employees to partake during the work day if they if they do have a perscription?’ Especially for smaller businesses that may not have a full time human resource manager on staff, how do they approach this and how can they approach it.”

For small businesses who don’t have a big HR department, the Chamber President says to check out the Society of Human Resource Managers website.