Employment restored for Spokane pot buyer

One of the employment opportunities Spokane’s first legal pot purchaser said he’d lost as a result of his fame has been reinstated, a company official said. Mike Boyer, first in-line to buy legal recreational marijuana at a Spokane retailer earlier this week, posted online he’d lost a security job Wednesday and later said he’d also been forced out of his part-time temp employment with LaborReady, a Tacoma-based firm. Company spokeswoman Stacey Burke said Friday that Boyer remained in the job pool with the firm after clarifying Boyer’s assignment status the day he appeared on TV and in the newspaper. “We thought he was on the job that day,” Burke said. “When we saw him using a drug, we asked him to come in and take a drug test.” Boyer did not light up at the store, but did tell multiple news outlets he planned to leave and smoke his purchase with friends. State laws decriminalized the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for recreational use. Boyer was also asked to take a drug test at Kodiak Security, another part-time employer, he said. He planned not to take the tests because he knew he’d fail, he said Wednesday. When Boyer contacted LaborReady to tell them he’d taken the day off Tuesday to stand in line, Burke said the company rescinded its demand for a drug test. “Under the law, he can do that,” Burke said. The company has what Burke called a “reasonable suspicion” drug-testing policy that calls for a urine sample when the company suspects its employees are under-the-influence on the job. Burke said the policy is for the safety of its employees. On its Facebook page, the store Boyer purchased from, Spokane Green Leaf, said it would be open again tomorrow after closing late Tuesday. The other two retailers approved in Spokane, Satori/Instant Karma and Green Star Cannabis, have not yet set official dates for opening, though a sign on Satori’s storefront says they plan to open next week.