This may seem like a simple case of an employee being terminated for drug use, but along with his urine sample, Ross submitted a doctor's recommendation that he smoke pot to alleviate back pain - a document he thought would save him from being fired. His employer, however, terminated Ross based on the fact that federal law makes marijuana illegal no matter the use.

Earlier this month, the California Supreme Court heard arguments from both sides of this case, the latest example in an intensifying battle between federal and state authorities over medicinal marijuana use.

Ross contends that Ragingwire discriminated against him because of a back injury sustained while he was in the Air Force and that the company violated the state's fair-employment law by punishing him for legally smoking marijuana at home. He says he and others using medicinal marijuana should receive the same protections enjoyed by employees with valid painkiller prescriptions.

So far, though, the courts don't agree with Ross. Two lower courts have sided with Ragingwire's decision to fire Ross because federal law holds that marijuana is illegal in all guises and a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision declared that state medicinal marijuana laws don't protect users from criminal prosecution.

California voters legalized medicinal marijuana in 1996. Since then, 11 other states (Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington) have adopted similar laws and many are now dealing with the same issues of employee use of medicinal marijuana.

The California Supreme Court now has 90 days to rule in the Ross case.

(Source: http://www.sfgate.com)