Written by Stephen Trimboli

Lawful cannabis consumption in New Jersey is on a roll. There now are twenty recreational cannabis dispensaries in the state. Recreational cannabis sales in the third quarter of 2022 alone totaled $116,572,533. But measures to detect and remedy cannabis impairment in the workplace have not kept pace.

New Jersey’s “Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act” (CREAMMA) prohibits employers from taking adverse action against employees based solely on drug test results that are positive for cannabis. The positive test result must be accompanied by “a physical evaluation in order to determine {the} employee’s state of impairment,” to be conducted “by an individual with the necessary certification to opine on the employee’s state of impairment … related to the usage of a cannabis item.” The Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) was directed to create a program for the certification of such “Workplace Impairment Recognition Experts” (WIREs). But while cannabis sales explode, the CRC has yet to develop, or even propose, such a program – leaving employers in a quandary.