Medical marijuana patient sues company over firing for drug use

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BOSTON - When Cristina Barbuto of Brewster took a job with a marketing firm, she told the company that she used medical marijuana to treat symptoms of Crohn's disease.

Barbuto says she worked for only one day for Advantage Sales and Marketing, promoting products in a supermarket, and then the company fired her. The reason they gave was that Barbuto failed a required drug test by testing positive for marijuana.

When she complained, she said a human resources representative told Barbuto that the company, which has offices nationwide and in Massachusetts, follows federal, not state law.

Barbuto's claims were laid out in a complaint she filed in Suffolk County Superior Court accusing Advantage Sales and Marketing of discrimination and invasion of privacy.

Barbuto's case is the first of its kind in Massachusetts, but her circumstances are not unique. Massachusetts' fledgling medical marijuana law is largely silent on an employer's responsibility...

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