New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission Issues Guidance On "Workplace Impairment" Determinations

As previously reported here, on February 22, 2021, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed the "New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act" (CREAMMA), which amended the New Jersey Constitution to legalize recreational cannabis.

The law allows employers to conduct numerous forms of drug testing for cannabis, but limits an employer's ability to rely on a positive cannabis test result in making employment decisions. It requires that a drug test include both "scientifically reliable objective testing methods and procedures, such as testing of blood, urine, or saliva" and a "physical evaluation." The "physical evaluation" must be conducted by an individual certified to provide an opinion about an employee's state of impairment, or lack of impairment, related to the use of cannabis. The law tasked the Cannabis Regulatory Commission with adopting standards for this "Workplace Impairment Recognition Expert" (WIRE), who must be