Question: I have a medical-marijuana card, for medical purposes. Will I be disqualified if I am called for jury duty? Can an employer refuse to hire me or a health insurer disqualify me if I have a card? Is this discriminatory?

Answer: Let’s cover your concerns one at a time; some are unfounded.

First, an overview: “Medical-marijuana registration information is confidential and protected just as any other type of medical information. The only exception is that law enforcement officials have controlled access to limited registration information that can be used to verify if a patient and caregiver and/or grow site are registered with Department of Health for the medical use of marijuana. This allows law enforcement to distinguish between registered use and illegal use, since recreational use of marijuana is not lawful in Hawaii,” explained Janice Okubo, communications director of the state Department of Health, which administers the program.

During the last legislative session, laws were passed establishing a licensing system for medical-marijuana dispensaries (Act 241) and expanding civil protections for medical-marijuana patients and their caregivers (Act 242).

“Individuals are advised to seek advice from legal counsel regarding limitations on hiring for specific types of employment or allegations of discrimination or unfair treatment based on their medical conditions and use of medical marijuana,” Okubo said.

That’s certainly the best advice for specific cases; we’ll cover the issues generally here.

Jury duty: Having a medical-marijuana card won’t automatically disqualify you for jury duty, a spokesman for the city prosecutor confirmed.

Health insurance: Companies cannot refuse to cover you because you have a medical-marijuana card, according to spokeswomen for Kaiser Permanente Hawaii and the Hawaii Medical Service Association. Moreover, your insurance companies won’t know you carry a medical-marijuana card unless you tell them, they said.

Employment: Even medically authorized marijuana use can impede employment in certain jobs, which is why advocates tried (unsuccessfully) to include job-protection provisions in Act 242, said Carl Bergquist, executive director of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai‘i. The language was stripped before passage, he said.

Medical-marijuana patients are not exempt from workplace drug testing, Bergquist said. “Pre-employment drug tests will detect it, so that is something that should be discussed with employers,” he said.

Legal website Nolo.com notes that marijuana use remains illegal under federal law, so protections under the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act don’t apply. “Courts have held that a person’s right to use marijuana for certain medical conditions doesn’t extend to a right to have that use accommodated by an employer,” according to the website.

Bottom line: “There is no blanket protection on the books for employees,” Bergquist said.

Discrimination: Although job protections were not included, Act 242 does expand rights in other areas. The law prohibits discrimination against registered medical-marijuana patients and their caregivers by schools, landlords, courts with regard to medical care or parental rights, community associations and condominium organizations. Seek legal advice if you think you have a case.

Q: If I have a medical-marijuana card , will the cost of the marijuana I use be covered by insurance?

A: No, according to spokeswomen for Kaiser and HMSA, Hawaii’s largest health insurers. “Making sure that our members have access to effective prescription drugs is very important to us. We also want to make sure that the drugs we cover are safe. Before we would consider adding medical marijuana to the drugs we cover, it would have to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which tests drugs for safety, effectiveness and side effects,” said Elisa Yadao, HMSA’s senior vice president of consumer experience.

For more information, see the Health Department’s medical-marijuana page at health.hawaii.gov/medicalmarijuana and the website of the Medical Marijuana Coalition of Hawaii, www.mcchi.org.

Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.