When the Administration announced early last year it would not prosecute law-abiding marijuana growers and sellers in states with medical marijuana laws, the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in California exploded. There are now approximately 2,000 medical marijuana dispensaries in California.
California is not the only state with legal medical marijuana, it is also legal in 13 other states –Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Twelve other states are in various stages of pending legislation on the use of medical marijuana.
In the states were medical marijuana is approved, it is used in the treatment of cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, nausea, chronic or severe pain, seizures and some other medical conditions. Chronic or severe pain is the medical condition that has triggered work comp claims testing the boundaries between medical marijuana and workers' compensation. (Of the 14 states approving medical marijuana, only Maine does not permit its use for chronic or severe pain).
In a recent California claim where a work comp claimant was seeking approval to use medical marijuana to treat his work place injury, the judge hearing the case would not make a decision. The judge decided to let an independent medical evaluator determine whether or not marijuana should be provided to the claimant. The independent medical evaluator ruled the claimant had other medical options available to him and denied the use of medical marijuana in treatment of the claimant's work comp claim.
While the California claim did not result in the claimant being prescribed marijuana for his work comp injury, it created a bad precedent. It set the stage for other claimants and their attorneys to petition for the use of medical marijuana. Given a different set of facts, the next independent medical evaluator may decide it is an acceptable treatment in work comp claims.
Colorado and Michigan are two additional states where employees have raised the question of medical marijuana for treatment of their pain conditions.
As it becomes more acceptable for doctors to prescribe medical marijuana for pain management, the potential for its use in the field of workers’ compensation grows. The argument for medical marijuana will be that it is less addictive than heavy narcotic medications like Oxycontin and a lot cheaper.
IF medical marijuana becomes an acceptable treatment for pain management, a “side effect” of medical marijuana being “legalized” for workers compensation will be the increase in the number of questionable or fraudulent work comp claims. There will be questionable claims made for back pain or other subjective injuries where the employee's sole purpose in filing the work comp claim is to obtain marijuana paid for by the employer's work comp insurance.
The introduction of medical marijuana into the work comp system will also create various other problems for the employer. Additional problems would include: (workersxzcompxzkit)
1. Who will control the dosage amount and the frequency of use?
2. Who will pay for the prescription?
3. How will employers enforce a drug-free workplace program?
4. How will safety programs be affected?
So far we have only seen the tip of the medical marijuana iceberg. The topic of medical marijuana for use in the treatment of work comp claims will continue to be pushed by those actively using marijuana (often before the work comp injury occurs). It behooves employers and those involved in the processing of work comp claims to watch for further developments in this area over the coming year.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers' Compensation costs, including airlines, health care, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He can be contacted at: Robert_Elliott@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
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