TALLAHASSEE – A point out appeals court Wednesday upheld the firing of a Florida Department of Corrections officer for utilizing health-related cannabis, pointing to a federal law and a career requirement that he be able to use guns.
A a few-choose panel of the 1st District Courtroom turned down arguments by Samuel Velez Ortiz, a former sergeant for the Department of Corrections who was permitted by a medical doctor to use medical marijuana to handle write-up-traumatic anxiety condition linked to earlier armed forces support, according to paperwork submitted in the scenario.
Velez Ortiz failed a random drug test in 2021, in the end foremost to his firing less than a Office of Corrections “zero tolerance” plan. He challenged the firing and took the dispute to the 1st District Courtroom of Charm immediately after the state Public Personnel Relations Fee backed the dismissal
Florida voters in 2016 permitted a constitutional amendment that makes it possible for use of medical marijuana. But Wednesday’s ruling by the a few-judge panel pointed to cannabis remaining illegal under federal legislation and reported Velez Ortiz would be committing a felony by making use of cannabis and possessing a gun. It stated correctional officers, in section, are needed to qualify with firearms and be in a position to be issued guns in conditions this sort of as jail riots.
“Because Mr. Velez Ortiz uses medicinal marijuana to handle his put up-traumatic stress condition, he is a common consumer of marijuana,” stated the ruling, composed by Judge Clay Roberts and joined by Judges Stephanie Ray and M. Kemmerly Thomas. “Despite the fact that he can legally possess and use medicinal marijuana underneath state law, his use of it is unlawful underneath federal legislation. Accordingly, he are unable to lawfully have a firearm. Each and every time he does, he is committing a felony. And just about every calendar year, he is needed to possess a firearm to qualify. As a outcome, he is violating his need to manage superior moral character, which is expected to maintain his correctional officer certification.”
The circumstance has drawn awareness in legislation-enforcement circles, with the Florida Sheriffs Affiliation and the Florida Law enforcement Chiefs Affiliation final year submitting briefs in assist of the Section of Corrections. Briefs submitted by the sheriffs association and Velez Ortiz described the dispute as staying a case of “first perception” in Florida – a authorized expression indicating the troubles had not been regarded as formerly by courts.
In a transient last yr, Velez Ortiz’s lawyers cited the 2016 condition constitutional amendment and mentioned the officer did not use health care cannabis although on responsibility.
“The division attempts to cloud the major situation of this case by disregarding the actuality that appellant (Velez Ortiz) was terminated for staying a legal health care cannabis person,” the lawyers wrote in the brief. “The section implies that appellant was seeking to use professional medical cannabis ‘on site.’ Very little could be more from the truth of the matter. The circumstance ahead of this courtroom is not about obtaining lodging for on-web page use of healthcare marijuana somewhat, it revolves all around the discrimination from appellant for staying a health-related cannabis user. A lot more importantly, not once did appellant have or use health-related cannabis even though on the department’s premises, during perform hrs or attended perform under the influence of healthcare cannabis.”
But attorneys for the state wrote in a short that the Section of Corrections’ drug-no cost place of work policy and “strategies employing that policy expose zero tolerance for employee use of medical marijuana.”
“Velez Ortiz does not dispute that the section might validly prohibit correctional officers from staying less than the affect of marijuana, like healthcare cannabis, even though on the position, no subject irrespective of whether the officer ingested that substance on or off internet site,” the state’s transient said. “Still the department has no way to distinguish in between an officer who is large on the work simply because he ingested professional medical marijuana from a human being who ingested the exact drug off-web-site. The end result would be untenable dangers to general public security. A correctional officer who reveals up to function superior or going through the lingering effects of marijuana – such as lack of concentration and delayed reaction instances – may perhaps not bring about alarm bells right up until the worst-situation state of affairs has already come to go.”
Velez Ortiz started performing for the Office of Corrections in 2013 and experienced been identified by the U.S. Office of Veterans Affairs with fight-relevant article-traumatic worry dysfunction, in accordance to the decision by the Public Workforce Relations Commission that supported the firing. He tried using prescription drugs to handle the PTSD, but they experienced undesired facet consequences.
The briefs do not say wherever Velez Ortiz worked as an officer. But a July 2021 dismissal letter filed in the circumstance was signed by a warden of the department’s Reception and Health care Heart in Lake Butler.
