WCDefenseCA

Hello there, dear readers!

As some of you may know, the marijuana users frequently point to April 20^th as a special “marijuana holiday.”  Seeing as today is just that day, your humble blogger thought it only appropriate to provide you with some commentary on what the kids refer to as the “grass” in Workers’ Comp.

Long-time readers of this most humblest of blogs (or people randomly googling “workers’ compensation” and “marijuana”) will recall that the California Health and Safety 11362.785 holds that “nothing in this article shall require a governmental, private, or any other health insurance provider or heath care service plan to be liable for any claim for reimbursement for the medical use of marijuana.”  Bummer man.

But that section hit the books in 2004.  In 2016, however, 57% of California voters approved Proposition 64, which allowed possession and recreational use of marijuana by Californians (although Federal prohibitions would still make the practice illegal).  In other words, when presented with the opportunity, more Californians said “puff, puff, pass” than “just say no!”

Since then (and even before) the workers’ compensation community has held its breath (and to some extent, declined to inhale) wondering what the consequences for our little swamp would be?  Would the hemp farmers and pot heads come take our precious opioid addictions?  Would insurers now have to provide Doritos and Funions to “cure or relieve” from the effects of the use of marijuana to, in turn, cure or relieve from the effects of industrial injuries?

Well, your humble blogger scoured the various case reporting websites and found surprisingly little by way of judicial guidance.  The issue does not appear to be addressed (or appealed) with any regularity.

By contrast, and this is admitted anecdotal evidence, injured workers volunteer at their depositions that they use marijuana, pay for it out of pocket, and do not seek reimbursement.  It remains an open question how much of this is to treat industrial injuries and how much is just blowing smoke, but, if we take injured workers at their word, the use of marijuana seems to be something that is growing steadily.

Perhaps on this day next year we’ll have some more concrete guidance about marijuana use in the workers’ comp world – can a doctor prescribe the use of marijuana as part of modified duties, for example, and have the worker be loaded while driving a school bus?  We’ll see…  In the meantime, have a safe drive home, dear readers.

And also, remember kids, if you want to be cool, don’t smoke marijuana – practice workers’ comp law instead!