High Achievers
By Steve Robinson
Two academics were recently granted a rather unusual request - to be able to smoke marijuana on campus - after using Human Rights legislation to petition their employers.
The two Canadian professors suffer from medical conditions whose symptoms can be eased by smoking marijuana, which has been legal for medical use in Canada since 2001.
Brian MacLean from Toronto is a criminology professor at York University, he has been granted permission to smoke the substance in a special ventilated room after three months of persistence. Philosophy professor Doug Hutchinson also spent a year trying to convince the University of Toronto to allow him the right to smoke the drug.
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"Without the medication, I am disabled and I'm not able to carry out meaningful and valuable, productive work," MacLean said, who suffers from severe degenerative arthritis.
"It helps me to maintain my mobility as a physical problem but it also helps me to keep the pain at a distance so I can focus on my work."
MacLean claims that the refusal to allow him to smoke the medication left him unable to work properly, as well as risking the wrath of the law when forced to smoke on the perimeter of the campus.
The two professors' plight will undoubtedly bring forward more requests for an allowance to smoke medical marajuana in the workplace, which is technically forbidden under Canadian anti-smoking laws in the workplace. This is despite the country having authorised roughly 1,500 people to possess the drug for health reasons.
There is a certain irony, however, that, at least in Toronto Universities, it is the professors who are smoking the pot.
To read more about Steve or to view more of his articles click here.
The two Canadian professors suffer from medical conditions whose symptoms can be eased by smoking marijuana, which has been legal for medical use in Canada since 2001.
Brian MacLean from Toronto is a criminology professor at York University, he has been granted permission to smoke the substance in a special ventilated room after three months of persistence. Philosophy professor Doug Hutchinson also spent a year trying to convince the University of Toronto to allow him the right to smoke the drug.
"Without the medication, I am disabled and I'm not able to carry out meaningful and valuable, productive work," MacLean said, who suffers from severe degenerative arthritis.
"It helps me to maintain my mobility as a physical problem but it also helps me to keep the pain at a distance so I can focus on my work."
MacLean claims that the refusal to allow him to smoke the medication left him unable to work properly, as well as risking the wrath of the law when forced to smoke on the perimeter of the campus.
The two professors' plight will undoubtedly bring forward more requests for an allowance to smoke medical marajuana in the workplace, which is technically forbidden under Canadian anti-smoking laws in the workplace. This is despite the country having authorised roughly 1,500 people to possess the drug for health reasons.
There is a certain irony, however, that, at least in Toronto Universities, it is the professors who are smoking the pot.
To read more about Steve or to view more of his articles click here.
Image: Michael Gordon
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