The first man to legally buy recreational marijuana in Spokane, Wash., won’t be losing his job after all.
Mike Boyer bought the pot on July 8, the day legal recreational marijuana sales began in the city. He told KREM News that after receiving local media attention on that day, he learned that his employer, TrueBlue Labor Ready, had terminated his position.
But the company said it was a misunderstanding. “We were not aware that he had taken the day off. He was scheduled to work, we saw him on TV that he was under the influence, and that caused us to start a process of screening,” Stacey Burke, a spokesperson for TrueBlue Labor Ready, told NBC News. “When we realized that he was not on assignment, we reinstated him. … Pot is legal, and we know that.”
According to KREM 2 News, Boyer said he allowed a local camera crew to film him while making a four-gram purchase, follow him home, and then film him smoking pot. Boyer added that someone who had seen him on local news called to alert his employer. Boyer then received a text message from his manager to come into work the next day and take a drug test.
“I’m actually all right,” Boyer added. “It all worked out.”
Washington became the second state in the country, after Colorado, to legalize the purchase of recreational marijuana. A recent study showed that Colorado’s marijuana industry sells more than 10 tons of pot each month.
Clare Kim