Is this the test case medical marijuana advocates have been waiting for?

The Michigan medical marijuana community, and those who often disagree with them, have been waiting for the last year for a case that has the potential to clarify what is, and what is not, protected by the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, approved by voters in 2008.

One of the big areas of concern has been how those protections apply in the workplace. This may be the case, the Detroit Free Press reports:

A Battle Creek man who legally uses marijuana for medicinal purposes is suing Wal-Mart for firing him after he tested positive for marijuana during a drug test.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Calhoun County Circuit Court by the American Civil Liberties Union, its Michigan affiliate and the law firm of Daniel Grow, based in St. Joseph, on behalf of Joseph Casias, 30, who has an inoperable brain tumor and is in remission for sinus cancer. He said he uses marijuana at night to alleviate pain. ….

[Michigan Department of Community Health director of the bureau of health professions Melanie] Brim and Dan Korobkin, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan, said that, to their knowledge, this is the first lawsuit of its kind in Michigan.

“This is a path-breaking case to protect all of the patients in Michigan, whose rights are now protected by Michigan law,” Korobkin said.