Brandon Coats, a quadriplegic medical marijuana patient who was fired by the Dish Network after failing a drug test more than four years ago, says he still can't find steady work because employers are wary of his off-duty smoking. Coats, 35, was paralyzed in a car crash as a teenager and has been a medical marijuana patient since 2009, when, after a doctor's urging, he discovered that pot helped calm violent muscle spasms that were making it difficult to work. Coats is making his argument under a state law intended to protect cigarette smokers from being fired for legal behavior off the clock. A lawsuit filed by a physician assistant in New Mexico who said she was fired for using medical marijuana, which helps with her post-traumatic stress disorder, is still pending. Dish said in court filings that Colorado companies would be forced to retain employees in spite of "marijuana-induced performance problems," and the company would risk losing federal contracts if the Supreme Court sides with Coats.