Judge of Compensation orders respondent to pay for petitioner’s medical marijuana.

The petitioner suffers from muscular spasticity, resulting from a work-related injury. Despite the respondent’s objections, the Judge of Compensation refused to follow the recent Maine Supreme Court decision in Burgoin v. Twin Rivers Paper Co., Docket No. WCB-16-433, Decision No. 2018 ME 77 (Supreme Court, decided June 14, 2018), where the court overruled a lower court that had ordered a workers’ compensation carrier to pay for marijuana for an injured worker. According to the Maine Supreme Court, were the employer to comply with the order and knowingly reimburse the injured worker for the costs of medical marijuana, as permitted by the Maine Medical Use of Marijuana Act, the employer would be engaging in conduct made criminal by the Controlled Substances Act, and concluded that compliance with both would be an impossibility.

Despite the respondent’s objections, the Judge of Compensation in McNeary declined to follow the Maine Supreme Court’s ruling, expressing concern over the potential for abuse of the opioid drugs that the petitioner’s physicians found to be his only treatment alternative. 

_{Case Law Alerts, 4^th Quarter, October 2018}

_{Case Law Alerts is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2018 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.}