07 Mar 2021

New York: Court Approves Treatment Variance for Medical Marijuana

In a case of first impression, a New York appellate court affirmed an order entered by the state’s Workers’ Compensation Board allowing a medical treatment variance in the form of medical marijuana for an injured worker who suffered from continuing pain after a work-related injury. That order required the workers’ compensation carrier to reimburse the worker for marijuana purchased pursuant to New York’s Compassionate Care Act. The carrier contended that there was a direct conflict between that New York law and the federal Controlled Substances Act. Under the CSA, possession of marijuana—even for medicinal purposes—is a criminal act. Reviewing several decisions from other jurisdictions, the court held there was no such direct conflict. The carrier could not be guilty of aiding and abetting; one could not aid and abet a completed crime.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the co-Editor-in-Chief and Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law(LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Matter of Quigley v. Village of E. Aurora, 2021 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1223 (3d Dept. Feb 25, 2021)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 94.06.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see