Left: Associate Justice Clarence Thomas sits during a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, April 23, 2021. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool). Right: Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh stands during a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, on April 23, 2021. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool).
The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a truck driver who was fired from his job after he failed a routine drug test due to what he said was “unwitting ingestion of THC” — and Justice Clarence Thomas made his dissatisfaction with the ruling known.
The case, Medical Marijuana v. Horn, was reviewed by the justices to address a circuit split over the limitations of racketeering claims, but Justice Clarence Thomas said the court should never have granted review.
Douglas Horn, a commercial truck driver, blamed his positive test not on intentional drug use, but on his having taken “Dixie X,” a CBD-based wellness product marketed as being free of tetrahydrocannabinol, or “THC” — the active ingredient in marijuana. CBD is a naturally occurring chemical compound found in the cannabis plant; it is legal and does not, on its own, have the mind-altering properties associated with marijuana.
Horn said he took the product for chronic pain, and that he lost not only his job, but also his insurance and pension benefits as a result of the failed drug test.
