Do recent changes to federal treatment of medical marijuana impact your workplace drug policies? On April 22, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an order immediately moving two categories of marijuana into Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act: (1) “drug products containing marijuana that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)” and (2) “marijuana subject to a state medical marijuana license.” Recreational marijuana is not covered by this change.
For Connecticut employers, the practical workplace rules are still driven primarily by Connecticut’s Palliative Use of Marijuana Act (PUMA). In general, PUMA limits an employer’s ability to refuse to hire, discharge, or otherwise penalize an individual solely because the person is a qualifying medical marijuana patient or caregiver, unless a federal requirement or a federal funding condition requires a different result. Importantly, PUMA does not require you to allow marijuana use at work, and it supports enforcing a clear expectation that employees are not impaired during working time or while performing their duties.
Managers should also be prepared for more questions framed as disability accommodations. Historically, employers often relied on federal “illegality” to deny accommodation requests tied to medical marijuana. With certain state-licensed medical marijuana now treated as Schedule III at the federal level, that argument may be less persuasive in some situations. This does not mean you must allow on-duty use or impairment. However, it is less clear that employers may deny requests for on-duty marijuana accommodations in all situations. Legal counsel should be consulted if faced with such a request.
For some roles, other laws and regulations can impose stricter standards than PUMA, and the federal rescheduling may change those requirements, as they are often tied to the classification of marijuana on Schedule I rather than referencing marijuana directly. For DOT-regulated roles, guidance is expected in the near future.
For now, employers must recognize that any use of medical marijuana by a qualifying patient in accordance with PUMA is permitted by federal law. Employers may apply only the limitations found in PUMA, unless there is a specific law that leads to a different outcome. Laws that trumped PUMA by virtue of prohibitions on Schedule I substances will no longer do so as to marijuana, unless those laws are modified to reference marijuana directly. Employers may continue to regulate recreational use in accordance with Connecticut law.
The labor and employment attorneys at Berchem Moses, PC can help you evaluate your drug policies to ensure compliance with recent regulatory changes.
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