Suit: Ex-pharmacist fired for not trying medical marijuana

WILKES-BARRE (AP) — A former Pennsylvania pharmacist is suing the medical marijuana dispensary where she worked on allegations she was fired after refusing to illegally sample the shop’s products.

Carol Kopiak, of Wilkes-Barre, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against her former employer Justice Grown, Times Leader reported.

In the complaint, Kopiak claimed her rights were violated when the store terminated her employment “for refusing to engage in illegal activity.”

Kopiak began working at the dispensary in January 2018 as a pharmacist and claims she only received positive reviews during her employment but she was terminated at the end of February.

The store’s owner, Abbe Kruger, found out that Kopiak had been subject to a robbery and hostage situation at a former workplace and suggested she see a doctor for post traumatic stress disorder, the complaint alleged.

Kopiak said Kruger also suggested she could use marijuana at the facility for the condition. The plaintiff sent an email to her boss saying that her “doctor doesn’t feel it medically necessary” for her to use medical marijuana, and as such did not have the card required by the state for use of medical marijuana.

Kopiak said she was then abruptly fired shortly after, allegedly being told that “it wasn’t working out.”

Kruger wrote a statement to the Times Leader denying Kopiak’s claims and saying she is attempting to “shake down” the company.