At Monday night’s LLCC Board of Trustees meeting, updates were approved to board policies in anticipation of the legalization of recreational cannabis effective Jan. 1, 2020. A copy of Board Policy and Procedure 8.38 – Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace was emailed Dec. 18. A few takeaways:

• Despite legalized use of cannabis for medicinal purposes and the upcoming legalization for recreational use, board policy will continue to prohibit the possession, use or distribution of marijuana on college property, including in your vehicle if it is parked on campus. LLCC must adhere to federal law, specifically the Drug-Free Schools and Community Act. In order to receive federal funding, including federal financial aid that many of our students need to access educational opportunities, the college must agree to ban the use of cannabis on campus. Non-compliance would result in fines and possible loss of federal funding. Please be mindful of this moving forward.
• Pre-employment drug screens will no longer test for the presence of THC except for limited positions as defined in the attached procedure.
• Employees will only be tested for the presence of drugs, alcohol and/or controlled substances when there is reasonable suspicion of impairment while at work. This remains unchanged from current practice. To ensure that impairment is not unreasonably assessed, a two-person standard for assessing reasonable suspicion of impairment will be implemented. If a supervisor has reasonable suspicion of impairment, the Vice President, Administrative Services; Associate Vice President, Human Resources; or administrative designee must also be in concurrence that reasonable suspicion exists. Training on appropriately and reasonably assessing and properly documenting reasonable suspicion of impairment will be provided to administrators and other supervisory staff.
• If an employee has a positive result from a reasonable suspicion drug test that may result in disciplinary action, the employee will have the opportunity to appeal the results and provide evidence to support nullifying the results.

If you have any questions after reviewing the policy and procedure, please contact Nicole Ralph, associate vice president, human resources.