A bill that would have protected employees from being fired for testing positive for medical marijuana use has been vetoed by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Oct 2.

Medical-marijuana advocates had advanced the bill in an effort to overturn a state Supreme Court ruling that allowed employers to fire workers for using marijuana even if they did so under doctors' orders. The use of medical marijuana in California was approved by Proposition 215 in 1996.

In its ruling earlier this year, the high court said that although Proposition 215 exempted medical-marijuana patients and their caregivers from state prosecution, its intent was not to limit an employer's authority to fire workers who use drugs banned under federal law. In his veto message, Schwarzenegger also expressed concern about "interference in employment decisions as they relate to marijuana use," adding: "Employment protection was not a goal of the initiative as passed by voters in 1996."

Dale Gieringer, California coordinator of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and a co-author of Proposition 215, disagreed. "The intent of 215 was to treat marijuana like other legal pharmaceutical drugs," he said.

The employment measure was opposed by the state Chamber of Commerce and had narrowly passed both houses of the state legislature.