Dive Brief:

• With marijuana legal in 24 states for medicinal or recreational purposes, a new survey has found that small business owners have mixed feelings about the drug's workplace presence. 
• The survey, from Employers, which offers workers' compensation insurance for small businesses, found that 19% of small business owners said they would allow an employee who has a doctor’s prescription for medical marijuana to use it while at work, while 62% said they would not. Another 17% were not sure whether they would allow employees to use the drug while at work.
• The potential percentage of business owners who would allow marijuana use at work comes as a surprise, according to Employers.

Dive Insight:

Dwight Robertson, medical director at Employers, in fact says that his company encourages all small businesses to maintain drug-free workplaces because employees who are under the influence of illicit substances, or the misuse or abuse prescription drugs, "can put themselves, other employees or customers at risk of injury or other harm."

Robertson says the most important step employers can take is to have a clearly documented workplace safety policy that specifically addresses drug use in the workplace. Having said that, the Employers survey found that 42% of small businesses do not have a written policy prohibiting employees from possessing, using or being under the influence of marijuana at work. And nearly three-quarters of small businesses (74%) do not require their employees to take drug tests.

Robertson recommends that when developing and assessing a drug-free policy, small employers should build employee awareness, establish guidelines and enforce consequences.