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Joseph Casias - January 18, 2013
Joseph Casias - January 18, 2013
Joseph Casias is an everyday American guy with a wife and two kids. He had a job he loved at Walmart and was living the dream.
He was also living with an inoperable brain tumor.
When medical marijuana became legal in Michigan in 2008 Josephs Oncologist suggested he try it to alleviate some of the symptoms of chemo and radiation.
Joseph became a legal medical marijuana patient under Michigan law and continued to live his life. Joseph preferred to use medical marijuana as it significantly helped his symptoms and gave him good quality sleep.
After a sprained knee compelled a mandatory drug test in 2009, Joseph was fired by Walmart for his medical marijuana use despite the fact that he never used marijuana at work, nor did he work under the influence of marijuana.
Joseph was “Associate of the year” in 2008 in his store, and always received excellent performance reviews and promotions, so performance apparently wasn’t the issue.
Joseph appealed his firing and was ruled against in 2011 by a Federal Judge. When asked what Walmart gave as an excuse for firing him, Joseph replied, "they never said." To this day he talks about how much he loved his job and how much the decision by Walmart destroyed his life. There are no winners in this story. Walmart may have won in court, but they lost a fabulous employee, and Joseph lost a job he loved.