What impact does cannabis have on workers’ compensation benefits? This is what a recent study conducted by the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI) hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated a connection between the legalization of cannabis and work-related injuries, along with the compensation benefits that are typically associated with those injuries. This study has the potential to help researchers, medical professional, employers, and the public better understand the risks associated with legalizing cannabis and the steps that can be taken to mitigate those risks.
For the study, the researchers evaluated data obtained from workers compensation claims between October 2012 and March 2022 across 31 states, along with each claim having reached 12 months of maturity since its filing. The goal of the study was to ascertain a connection between the recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) and the frequency of workers’ compensation claims.
In the end, the researchers found an increase in workers’ compensation claims in the years following the legalization of recreational cannabis, including a 7.7 percent increased in less than 2 years and a 15 percent increase within five years. The researchers also made recommendations regarding what steps can be taken going forward to address these issues.
The report notes, “Following RML adoption, (1) claim frequency increased; (2) per-claim medical payments declined; (3) the number of pain medication prescriptions, including opioid prescriptions, declined; and (4) there was no change in indemnity benefits nor total claim duration, except for in the later years after RML adoption.”
This study comes as the number of states that have fully legalized marijuana has reached more than two dozen while only four states still have marijuana listed as fully illegal. The remaining states have legalized medical marijuana while recreational marijuana remains illegal.
What new connections between cannabis and workers’ compensation will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Workers Compensation Research Institute, Marijuana Moment, DISA Global Solutions
