By Dara Barney
This is the next article in WorkersCompensation.com's “Comp and Cannabis” series, as Editor Dara Barney explores medical marijuana legislation state-by-state, and what it means regarding workers’ compensation.
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There’s a big Supreme Court case brewing in Maine slated for Wednesday, and it is all about medical cannabis. Will state law avail to cover a millworker’s medical marijuana relief for chronic pain? Or will the Justices decide reimbursement isn’t up to the insurance company, as marijuana is still federally illegal?
Former Madawaska mill worker Gaetan Bourgoin, a few years away from 60, injured his back at almost 30 years old in 1989 and couldn’t ease the pain with opioids, and other treatments. He asked to be reimbursed for medical marijuana in 2015, according to the article. Madawaska is now known as Twin Rivers Paper Co. “…In 2015, the Maine Workers’ Compensation Board ordered that Sedgwick Claims Management Services of Memphis, the third party that administers Twin (sic) Rivers’ insurance plan, reimburse Bourgoin for his medical marijuana,” writes Judy Harrison of Bangor Daily News, featured in Maine Public.
Maine Workers’ Compensation Board Chair and Executive Director Paul Sighinolfi has practiced law, including a number of workers’ comp cases on both the employer and employee sides, for 30 years. He told WorkersCompensation.com that Bourgoin has been through a number of treatments in various states, and was on a multitude of opioids including OxyContin and Oxycodone. He was also periodically going to his local hospital for morphine injections when the constant chronic pain intensified. His doctor was out of options, and Bourgoin was experiencing suicidal ideation.
“Once he was certified to take medical cannabis, he would vape it, use it as a topical oil, or mix it into food. He was not smoking it,” Sighinolfi said. “He wasn’t just able to wean himself off the other medications, he was able to start living with the chronic pain. His quality of life improved.”
The cost for the medical cannabis comes at approximately $375 per month; vs. $2,000 a month for the opioids, according to Bourgoin’s lawyer, Norman Trask of Presque Isle, in a high court brief, writes Harrison.
Twin Rivers’ and Sedgwick attorneys have appealed, taking the stance that marijuana is still illegal under federal law, therefore insurers can’t be forced to reimburse for it, claiming the feds could prosecute based on that fact alone, per the article.
“The feds need to address this… I was shocked in August 2016 when they didn’t re-classify marijuana… Congress is focused on other issues, but two things need to happen: 1) The Feds need get legislation together to allow for medical marijuana in certain circumstances, and 2) pony up some cash to get some good, scientific research and studies on the books,” Sighinolfi said.
Another topic the mill and Sedgwick attorneys Anne-Marie Storey and John Hamer have argued: “The Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act states that it may not ‘require a government medical assistance program or private health insurer to reimburse a person for costs associated with the medical use of marijuana,’” writes Harrison.
But, Trask argued that this medical marijuana serves a certain purpose as “medicine” and falls under “reasonable and proper” medical services per Maine workers’ compensation law.
“I don’t have a crystal ball, but I wish I did. I am very curious to see what the court does on Wednesday,” Sighinolfi said. “I think medical cannabis can be another tool in the toolbox. Is it the answer to some chronic pain diagnoses? Conceivably, it could help. But right now, we don’t have enough science to tell us that. We have a lot of anecdotes though, and Mr. Bourgoin could be the posterchild of that.”
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Watch for the quarterly “Hot Seat” webinar scheduled to run Sept. 29, which will feature hosts WorkersCompensation.com CEO Bob Wilson and Florida Deputy Chief Judge of Compensation Claims David Langham. This month’s topic will be “Opioids and Formularies: Going to Pot?” Guests will be Pew, and Texas Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Ryan Brannan. Registration is available here.
