The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board
Jason McCarty carried a Florida medical marijuana card, as legally entitled to smoke cannabis to calm his anxiety and insomnia as anyone who takes a pill out of a bottle.
At 50, he had a $121,000-a-year job in information technology and a spotless record. But on Feb. 4, two fellow employees from the risk-management staff smelled the whiff of weed in his parked car and immediately reported him.
No more than a day later, he was banished from the premises by his employer: the City of West Palm Beach.
McCarty lost his job over a frustrating truth. Although Florida has made marijuana partially legal, the federal government still considers it a banned substance. And under employment policies of the City of West Palm Beach, federal law comes first. The use of medical marijuana, even with a prescription, is prohibited.
WEST PALM BEACH A massive main break sent water cascading onto North Tamarind Avenue and into yards and cars, and sent water pressure plunging throughout the city, prompting a precautionary boil water order citywide and in the towns of Palm Beach and South Palm Beach.
West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James, at a news conference with Utilities Director Poonam Kalkat, attributed the break to simply age, and said a recent spate of chilly weather might have contributed. Service is not expected to return to normal for the utility s 120,000 customers until Sunday, after two days of testing to assure the system is free of bacteria, the officials said.