The Drug Report
The Drug Report
The True Cost of Marijuana in the Workplace: Absenteeism and Medical Program Concerns in Pennsylvania
Can marijuana use really be costing businesses millions? In this episode of the Drug Report Podcast, we unpack a revealing study from the American Journal of Preventative Medicine that draws a stark connection between cannabis use disorder and rising workplace absenteeism. From the financial strain on employers to the ripple effects on the economy, we analyze the true cost of marijuana in the workplace. We also bring to light alarming data from Quest Diagnostics, showing a surge in marijuana positivity rates, particularly following workplace accidents. Join us as we discuss the crucial need for robust drug prevention and treatment policies to sustain a safe and efficient work environment.
But that’s not all—we also expose a worrying trend within Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program. Through a gripping story from a Pennsylvania series, we uncover how doctors with checkered pasts, including drug dealing and revoked medical licenses, are still issuing medical marijuana cards. This revelation prompts us to question the integrity of medical marijuana programs and the potential for similar issues nationwide. We emphasize the vital role of media in shining a light on such misconduct and discuss the broader implications for the medical community and public trust. Tune in for a comprehensive look into these critical issues affecting workplace dynamics and public health.
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Speaker 1:Hello everyone, this is Luke Neferatos. Welcome to the Drug Report Podcast. I am your host and I want to thank our two co-sponsoring organizations SAM Smart Approaches to Marijuana, as well as the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions they make everything happen and our website, thedrugreportorg, where you can get all the news. It aggregates everything that is important for those in drug policy really any drug, not just marijuana. Though we spend a lot of time talking about that drug, there are many other drugs to discuss as well. So check out our website, thedrugreportorg, and subscribe for our twice-weekly newsletter, which will be coming up tomorrow. So there you have it.
Speaker 1:There is some big research that has just come out, published just today in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. I will just read the conclusions Okay, so this is a study that looked at cannabis use disorder and cannabis use and workplace absenteeism, so looking for a potential relationship between the use of marijuana and not showing up for work. This is just the two-sentence conclusion section. Individuals with recent and frequent cannabis use and cannabis use disorder are disproportionately prone to workplace absenteeism. The results of this study support the enforcement of workplace drug prevention and treatment policies. So what they found was more people who use marijuana are not showing up for work and for those who are employers, this has a hard cost for employers. They know what the cost is when an employee doesn't show up for work. That's something that can be quantified and I think it would be fantastic if people who are employers, people in the corporate space, did internal research on what that cost is, just to help the public understand what the business cost is, what the cost to the economy that lost productivity, what the cost is to the average person Because you figure, people probably have a higher propensity than to lose their jobs if they're not showing up for work. So what's that cost to families and people? There are all kinds of trickle-down costs.
Speaker 1:So the study found that over the last 30 days, the mean number of workdays missed. So the average number of workdays that somebody missed because of illness was 1.47 out of that last 30 days for people who did not have a cannabis use disorder but had used cannabis in the last month For those who had never used cannabis, the mean number of sick days was 0.95. So it is statistically significantly higher by almost one day. It is higher for someone who uses marijuana just in the last month. It doesn't even mean they're addicted, it doesn't even mean they're using it every day. They have a higher rate of absenteeism than, basically, the average person uses sick days in the last month. Now, it says, while infrequent cannabis use was associated with work absences, those who had a cannabis use disorder had a 1.3 to 2.87 times higher incidence of missing or skipping work compared to those without cannabis use disorder. This is particularly important because we are seeing astronomical increases in the rate of cannabis use disorder across the country. We now know that we have nearly 20 million Americans who use marijuana every single day and fit the description of cannabis use disorder, so this is something that matters.
Speaker 1:Having higher rates of workplace absenteeism is something that employers simply cannot ignore. This comes, by the way, on the heels of research that came out back in May, so a couple months ago, from Quest Diagnostics. They released their annual study that looks at marijuana positivity rates across the country and at the state level, and what they found was that marijuana positivity in the general US workforce increased 4.7 percent from 2022 to 2023. Over the last five years it has gone up 45 percent, with 2023 reaching the new peak. So these rates continue to increase. That's people testing positive for marijuana at the workforce. So this absenteeism data that just came out is pretty concerning when we look at the rates of positivity in the workforce continuing to climb and what Quest Diagnostics, by the way, also found. So, moving away from absenteeism, they also found that post-accident marijuana positivity rates continue to climb as well. So people who were positive for marijuana and had a workplace accident, that number has increased 114% over the last nine years across the country.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, this data also looked at the state level. So they looked at states with recreational marijuana laws and states with medical marijuana laws, and what they found was in states where it was recreationally legal, the rates essentially stayed the same from 2022 to 2023 positivity rates, but they decreased in medical marijuana states and they decreased the most in non-legal states. States that didn't have medical and didn't have recreational saw the biggest drop in positivity rates. So clearly, if you're a state that has a normalized commercial structure allowing more marijuana use, allowing the advertising, promoting the products, you are much more likely to have higher positivity rates in the workforce, which means people are less safe, means people are not showing up for their jobs, as this study shows. So this is something we need to be thinking about as we head into an election where you have candidates on both sides of the aisle that are pitching solutions for the workforce, that are trying to solidify the American economy. Grow the economy, grow American jobs. Make sure people are safe in their jobs and more productive, because we need more than ever to increase the output of our economy, and these sorts of policies make no sense.
Speaker 1:Legalization of marijuana, normalizing the drug, normalizing the use of the substance in our workforce makes no sense at all. And yet you have organizations like the Drug Policy Alliance, which is basically counter to everything that we believe in. They want to legalize drugs and normalize them. They are advocating for a complete, no exceptions ban on drug testing. That's in their 2020 vision document that they released, and they continue to keep that on their website. They want to ban all drug testing. They don't want a drug-free workplace, even in spite of numbers like this and data like this. Research has suggested that more absenteeism, less safety, and yet that's what they're advocating for. So there are folks that want to normalize this substance and we just cannot let them win the day in this policy discussion. So very important, we understand this, check out this research. It's going to be in our Drug Report newsletter. It's vital, I think, that especially employers and those who are managing employees understand this data and understand what the impacts could be for the workplace and for us in a broader policy sense as well.
Speaker 1:Before I let you go, I wanted to hit on one other thing. There was a really interesting write-up in the Philadelphia Inquirer today that looked at you know, the headline is One Doctor's Battle to Rejoin. Pennsylvania's Medical Marijuana Program Reveals how the State Wields Its Gatekeeping Power. And it's just hilarious because this article is written really with a tone and a perspective that is sympathetic to the plight of this doctor. But the facts of this are, in my opinion, not very sympathetic at all and really emblematic of the entire medical marijuana ruse and facade that it is across this country. So I'm just going to read the first couple of paragraphs here because, it's just, their words are better than mine, quite frankly. So I'm just going to read the first couple of paragraphs here because, it's just their words are better than mine, quite frankly.
Speaker 1:So Matthew Roman used to be Pennsylvania's top doctor for getting a medical marijuana card. In 2018, the year dispensaries began selling cannabis in the state quote-unquote medical marijuana. Roman was the only doctor to issue more than 3,000 medical marijuana certifications in Pennsylvania. Back then, roman was more than just a prolific certifier, which I think is hilarious, but literally basically a euphemism for prolific drug dealer. But nonetheless, he sued federal officials in 2018, claiming they unconstitutionally blocked people enrolled in state medical cannabis programs from buying a gun. On social media, he showed off his medical marijuana card and offered the chance to win free card consultations.
Speaker 1:Again, this is a medical doctor who is seeing patients and writing prescriptions and quote-unquote recommending medical marijuana under the ruse of medicine Free card consultations. In a late 2017 video viewed by Spotlight PA, he appeared to roll and smoke marijuana while in Delaware. Underneath all the attention, roman had a drug problem. Surprise, surprise, he later said and soon it all came crashing down. A state medical board disciplined him in 2019. The consent agreement he entered into said he displayed a problematic pattern of cannabis use leading to clinically significant impairment Whatever that means doesn't sound good and met the criteria for cannabis use disorder, so he lost his ability to certify patients for the state's medical marijuana program.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I'm going to end the reading there. You can read the rest of this article yourself. But this is literally this is you know, this is what medical marijuana is. It is an absolute ruse. And the people who are telling you that this is medicinal are using the drug themselves, and many of them are actually addicted to it, like this doctor who is at risk of losing his license over what occurred here.
Speaker 1:So, once again and this, by the way, is the second story in a several story series that's been happening in Pennsylvania, where they've looked at doctors who actually had histories of drug dealing, histories of losing their license, who now participate in the medical marijuana program.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, very clearly, and it's not just reserved to PA Thankfully there's some media and PA doing their job and doing journalism and looking into these issues, but if they did this in every state, we would see this time and time again. I mean, you just look at what doctors are advertising these medical marijuana card programs and you can see that they're all of the same line of style of doctor, and that is, quite frankly, a doctor who has violated his Hippocratic oath, in my opinion, or her oath in my opinion. So you know, this story to me just really kind of describes the status of medical marijuana programs and what a disgrace to medicine it truly is. So make sure you don't miss that story. This story is going to be in our Drug Report newsletter as well and, as always, we thank you for listening. Check out our newsletter, give us a review on our podcast if you can Five stars please, and a review written would be wonderful, and have a great rest of your week.