A Buffalo firefighter returns to work this week after he settled his wrongful termination lawsuit with the City of Buffalo and the fire department, which terminated him in 2021 for testing positive for cannabis despite being a registered medical patient.
Scott Martin, an Air Force veteran who served two tours in the Middle East, was a Buffalo EMT and firefighter for over a decade, when he got suspended in December 2020 for testing positive for cannabis on a random workplace test.
The collective bargaining agreement between the city and the fire department establishes the protocol for workplace drug testing, but it does not address registered medical users like Martin.
Martin was deemed a certified medical patient in 2018 to help relieve chronic back pain, sleepless nights and post-traumatic stress disorder.