We are all aware of the fact that in various areas of the United States of America and other around the world have legalized marijuana for the medical purposes. But, there are many people who do not feel comfortable about it, it’s a shame for them to let people know that they are using marijuana especially in the cases of being an employee. When you have a reputation to maintain as an employer or employee, or you are in such a profession where even using the word marijuana indicates that you are into drugs then it becomes impossible for you to use it even for medical necessity. In some case, even investigations are open regarding the medical use of marijuana by the employers. Some might end up losing their positive reputation or even the job due to the use of marijuana. If you are concerned about the fact that whether medical marijuana shows up on a background check or not, then keep on reading as we are going to spill the beans regarding this concern.

Along with your personal health information, you need to know a fact that if you have been suggested medical marijuana by a qualified doctor or health professional then it is protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This clearly means that your medical marijuana record should not show up on any background check carried out on the orders of an employer or any other said authority. There is no doubt that some of you are always nervous that such information should not be leaked or known to people.

 

So, you might still be confused that how you can be sure about your medical marijuana record not showing up on the background check, then the easiest way to do it that you should carry out a background check on yourself in order to identify that if there is something in your history.

 

Now you might be thinking that how you can run a background check on yourself, there are many online platforms that are providing you background check services for your convenience. But, one thing that you need to understand is that when you carry out a background check by yourself, it will not be easy to preempt the employer. You can do this to keep your self-updated, which means that you are ready for any background check by the employer or any authority. You can go for periodical background checks that will allow you keep a record and stay up to date regarding your professional and personal profile.

 

There are comprehensive background check services that allow you to attain the detailed information about your credit ratings, your criminal activities record, history of your employment and online activities. This will also give you information regarding any inaccuracies in your record, maybe your past record has any inaccuracy that you want to get removed.

 

How can you choose a background check?

First of all you need to make proper research regarding a service provider, when you choose a background check service provider, they will provide you with a report that consists of all the past record and history that your employer might need to dig about you. You have to choose this service provider wisely, and once they provide you with the required information you should be confident about it. In order to make your life less complicated, and a lot easier especially for those who do not want their medical marijuana card to show up then you need to choose a reputable services provider.

 

Concerned law and Medical Marijuana Status:

While you have decided to go for a background check we would like you to have knowledge about the rules and regulations regarding it. When employer want to check out an employee’s status first thing they do even before the background check is to utilize a search engine in order to check who the employee is. First thing you can do is that google yourself and check what is there for people to see about you. You need to make sure that they are watching the things you want them to see. A search of this kind will generally take them to your social media accounts and your recent activities there, or in case your name is mentioned anywhere online will show up to them. In case you are dealing with the medical marijuana consultancies online, or you are chatting about it such as on your Facebook profile then it will show up to anyone who is searching you online. You need to be cautious before posting anything on your social media.

Most important is that medical marijuana patients always have the fear of being arrested, as they are vulnerable to it. Despite the fact that legalization of medical marijuana is increasing day by day, the decimation of such people who are using marijuana for medical purpose is seen at workplaces. Especially when it comes to legal matters such as child custody or housing, the person is discriminated. Even you are under the ambit of state’s law and are abiding by it regarding your marijuana usage, you might still be vulnerable and exposed to law enforcement encounters.

In this complicated situation, we have another fact for you and that is in a background check your criminal record shows up. For instance if you have been convicted for possession of CBD cannabis, you might not be given a proper job as it is considered as a criminal offense and would appear as your criminal record. Regardless of the fact that you are using it for the medical purposes. In recent time, the federal laws are still practicing severe penalties for the purpose of keeping and using marijuana.

 

Does a Medical Marijuana Card show up?

As far as your records are concerned, we would like to answer it you in one word and that is a No. The reason behind it that you can only get your state issued card through a doctor’s medical suggestion, under HIPPA that information is supposed to be kept secret, confidential and protected. You should not be worried in this matter, because as far as we know the access to your medical record is denied to anyone who requests to get it. The authorities such as your doctor is not allowed to provide your medical data to anyone. This clearly means that if you are using marijuana by the recommendation of a qualified practitioner then no one would be able to get hold of your data related to medical marijuana.

 

How does HIPPA protect your medical marijuana record?

You might think that there is no need to keep your medical record a secret, but according to the majority’s perspective people are comfortable while talking about their diseases. Even when someone is recommended to use an inhaler on the daily basis, they want to keep it a secret. Most of the people are not comfortable about revealing their medical conditions and it is totally understandable. Most of us prefer to keep it a secret and not talk about our diagnosis, sometimes we don’t even feel like that anyone has the right to know about it. By keeping these concerns in mind, HIPPA was introduced in order to safeguard the privacy of a patient and to avoid healthcare information being leaked or disclosed accidentally or deliberately. As far as the medical marijuana card is concerned, the restrictions are so severe that even a dispensary can only have the access to validity of the medical marijuana card.

 

Not only the marijuana card, but other medical records are also supposed to be kept a secret and confidential. This means that no third party can enjoy the right to access your records either they are regarding your medical conditions or the usage of medical marijuana. The only way to do it that the said party or person has a granted permission. Under the ambit of HIPAA, if someone has given explicitly authority to check such data, only then he or she should be given access. For instance if a patient itself chooses to share their medical record or information for the purposes of research.

 

Whether a potential Employer be given access to one’s history or not?

The answer to this query is also a NO, because of the reason that it does not show up to be as clear-cut as might think or like it to be. As far as our research is concerned in this regard the employers have the right to select various criterions for the purposes of background check which also includes the criminal record check and certain medical records. In this situation, the medical history should be kept limited to an applicant’s ability to carry out the job they have applied for. In order to just check that whether they fulfill the criteria of that job or not.

In certain words, most of your medical history is supposed to be kept confidential so for instance, you have a past record of any mental illness, and then it would not show up in your background check because it might have any negative impact on your job or chances of getting that position you might be dreaming for. By saying that, in case you are applying for a job that has something to do with law enforcement agencies and children or military than you might have to let them access to your medical health record because that is a necessity there and is a requirement of the job. This means that your nature of the job or position also defines your background checks. In many scenarios you have the opportunity to reveal the information or not, but your refusal will end up impacting your job.

We would say that honesty works and it is the best policy so far, it lets you avoid the controversy and confusion that is related to medical marijuana. It is difficult to assume that how would an employer react to it, but it can be positive as well.

 

Medical Marijuana Patient’s Record:

It is immensely difficult to find out the actual number of patients who are using the medical marijuana in the United States. As far as the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is concerned, according to an estimate there are 3.1 million people who are registered as MMJ cardholders in the United States alone. This estimate is regarding the year 2018, and it is obvious that this rate is increasing with every coming year because the chronic conditions are now being treated with the help of medical marijuana. The people who have been suffering for years because of chronic diseases,

If we talk about California then according to an estimate there are 1.23 million patients regarding Medical Marijuana Patients. It can be considered as one of the primary fear of people who use the medical marijuana that most of the people think of its usage as a drug. There are states where it’s legally recreational, there are employers who end their contracts with the employees who are tested positive for THC-COOH metabolites. You need to understand that pot is illegal at the federal level.

There are many examples of employees losing their jobs due to usage of medical marijuana, one of the common examples is of Colorado that took place in 2010. At that time, weed was considered as legal for the medical purposes. According to reports, Dish Network ended up firing Brandon Coats merely on the basis that he used cannabis in order to control spasm in his legs. He was suffering from quadriplegia after he went through a horrible car accident. Despite of the fact that he had his Medical Marijuana card, he lost his job because he was smoking the herb off-duty. He did not even use it while he was on-duty, in the year 2015 the Supreme Court of the states gave a ruling in favor of zero-tolerance drug policy approach for Colorado businesses.

 

From that, landscape has been changing continuously. According to a 2019 survey, it was revealed that only 48 percent of the companies in Colorado would go for termination of the contract of the staff members with a positive test of marijuana.

 

Medical Privacy and Marijuana:

As we all know that cannabis is been legalized for medical purposes in around 33 states which also includes D.C.,  the first thing that you have to do is get a prescription from a doctor or a medical practitioner because medical use of marijuana is only possible when your dosage is defined by a doctor. Your medical condition is acknowledged medically and after then you are prescribed with the usage. When you get the recommendation, you get a state issues medical marijuana card. When a qualified medical doctor is recommending you its use then it means that it falls under the ambit of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and it protects you.

 

This information has to be kept private and confidential because it is your choice to reveal it or not. It should not show up on a background check, the main objective of HIPAA is to provide protection to the patient and to make sure their privacy prevails and to avoid any deliberate leak or disclosure of the healthcare information.

 

What happens when you go for Medical Marijuana consultancy?

When you go to the Marijuana Clinics, they will add all the required information regarding your marijuana usage and information in a state’s medical marijuana registry. As soon as you meet the medical practitioner and get you prescription from him or her they enter the following record and information:

• They will be mentioning the nature of your condition, that it is qualifying for medical marijuana recommendation or not.
• They will also be entering the amount of medical marijuana that will be authorized to you and in which form.
• They will also be mentioning the types of weed delivery services that you are required for the purposes of your treatment.

If you are still concerned about your medical marijuana card that it can show up in the background check then you need to relax that you get it after the recommendation of the doctor is been taken. This means that it is the part of your medical history and it will be revealed upon you giving authority to someone.

On the other hand, you need to know that the marijuana card is a state issued one, and HIPPA does not formally provide protection to it. But, it has been given special protections due to the implied knowledge that it can give to your records. If you look at your medical marijuana card, you will notice that on the card there is no such data as in your Social Security number etc.

 

Can you stay off the Radar?

The first Marijuana Act was implemented in California back in 1996, since then it has become a concern that cardholders are on the government’s watch list or not.  The state of Florida has a Medical Marijuana Registry OMMU which allows protection from various crimes related to marijuana. This is one of those voluntary programs that is considered as unwanted attention of government. In 2017, only 20 percent people had the Medical Marijuana Identification Card (MMJ), on the other hand it is claimed by the attorney of California that acquisition of card should not be prevented due to privacy concerns.

As per the laws of the state, the police officers has the authority to verify the validity of the mmj cards immediately. In comparison of this, if you have a doctor’s recommendation only then you can be detained or arrested until you validate everything according to the law which includes a mmj card as well. As soon as your application to get your medical card is approved, then you are granted with an anonymous ID card number. You need to take care of the fact that MMJ application system should not have any personal information. By personal information we mean your name, social security number, address or anything like that. As we have already mentioned that you have granted a unique user ID number and information. There is a date of issue on the card and it also identifies the expiry.

You need to take care of the fact that your card should have an issue and expiry date, along with a passport-style photo and your number and state’s name. In some states, for instance Illinois, the card must have your date of birth and your address.

 

You need to understand that you can never flaunt its use or promote it, the federally illegal status of the marijuana is the reason even in the states where the marijuana is recreationally legal. If you are using the marijuana for the medical purposes then you have to make sure that you are not doing it for fun because it is your moral and ethical responsibility to do so. The dosage of medical marijuana should be kept according to the recommendation of the Florida marijuana doctor, which too is a responsibility of the patient. It is helping many people out in easing out the symptoms of the chronic use, but making sure that it is used for the same purpose is the duty of a person as a citizen of the state. As far as the background check is concerned, generally it will not show up in your background check that you have been using the medical marijuana but for that the requirements are that you should have a recommendation and a valid card. This means that you have to be officially registered for it.

 

We hope this article helped you with the information regarding medical marijuana showing up in your background check, if you still have any concerns you can post your queries in the comment section below, even the suggestion would be appreciated as well. In the end we would like to say that use it legally and let the herb heal you and help you with all your chronic conditions. All Natural MD.