AFL coaches tackle job protection for cannabis users
With seven AFL premierships as coaches to their names, the pair have joined forces to urge the Victorian government to grant workers legal protection for taking prescribed medications such as medicinal cannabis.
The North Melbourne and Gold Coast coaches both take medicinal cannabis and decided to take a stand over the treatment of prescribed users who return positive workplace tests.
Hardwick, a three-time premiership coach at Richmond and flag winner as a player with Essendon for Port Adelaide, said it was "appalling" workers were being sacked.
"I take medicinal cannabis and I'm a better coach because of it," the Gold Coast coach said.
"Because my pain is reduced, my sleep is enhanced and I definitely make calmer decisions at work."
Clarkson, a mentor to Hardwick during his five years as an assistant coach at Hawthorn, has been a long-time medicinal cannabis patient.
The 57-year-old said it has helped relieve lower back pain and discomfort, reduce stress levels and improve sleep in his highly stressful role as Kangaroos coach.
"It's very unlike alcohol which dissipates out of your system reasonably quickly," said Clarkson, a four-time AFL premiership coach in his own right.
"THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) can stay in your system for a period of weeks with no impairment."
A Legalise Cannabis Party motion calling for amendments to Victoria's occupational health and safety and equal opportunity laws is slated to be debated in the upper house on Wednesday.
It is based on the seven recommendations made by a parliamentary inquiry that found testing methods focused on drug presence rather than impairment.
"Workers, prescribed medicinal cannabis, are being forced to choose between risking their job or abandoning their medication and living with pain," Legalise Cannabis MP David Ettershank said.
Premier Jacinta Allan pointed out the state is investigating if medicinal cannabis users could safely drive, funding a closed-circuit track trial led by Swinburne University.
However, she was non-committal on Victoria moving to introduce legal protections for workers.
"We've got nothing to add in terms of any further changes today," she told reporters on Sunday.
"But (we) recognise that this is something we need to continue to work through in response to bringing the opportunity for chronic-pain sufferers to be able to access medicinal cannabis."
Clarkson and Hardwick have previously lobbied the state government to change driving laws for medicinal cannabis users.
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