It’s coming to Minnesota in July, and Vickie Schmidt, of Schmidt and Associates, Inc., can’t understand why more employers aren’t talking about it.
It is medical cannabis, which was approved for therapeutic use by the Minnesota state legislature in its 2014 session and is scheduled to become available to certain Minnesotans this July.
Schmidt’s company provides testing services to ensure drug and alcohol-free workplaces in Perham, Detroit Lakes, and Fargo, N.D.
According to the law, the only way to become part of Minnesota’s medical cannabis program is to be a state resident certified by a state-licensed health care provider, who can confirm that the resident suffers from one of the following conditions:.
-Cancer, if the underlying condition or treatment produces one or more of the following: severe or chronic pain, nausea or severe vomiting, or cachexia or severe wasting.
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-Glaucoma.
-Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
-Tourette’s syndrome.
-Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
-Seizures, including those characteristic of epilepsy.
-Severe and persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of multiple sclerosis.
-Crohn’s disease.
-Terminal illness, with a probable life expectancy of less than one year, if the illness or its treatment produces one or more of the following: severe or chronic pain, nausea or severe vomiting, or cachexia or severe wasting.
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Other potential patients may file a request with the Commissioner of Health’s office to add more conditions to this list. The commissioner has until July 1, 2016 to make additions.
These certified patients then join a patient registry, which is expected to begin at some point in February.
As the list of certified conditions stands, Schmidt said, she thinks it is unlikely that many patients approved to use cannabis products will be in the work force, but acknowledged she has limited insight and is not a medical professional herself.
However, Schmidt added, she expects the list of conditions to grow, and that is when more employers may have to adjust their drug policies to allow for this legalized use.
Two companies, LeafLine Labs and Minnesota Medical Solutions (MinnMed), were selected by the Minnesota Department of Health to manufacture and distribute medical cannabis in Minnesota.
The manufacturers will have products available in three forms: liquid (for oral consumption or to vaporize and inhale) and pill-form. As of now, no dried leaves or other plant materials are approved for use, but the law allows other forms (excluding smoking) to be approved later.
These products can contain the cannabis derivatives cannabadiol (CBD), delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) or a combination of the two.
“The THC, ‘getting high’ part, that’s what we test for,” Schmidt said, explaining the difference in the two chemicals. “That cannabadiol, which is the medical and truly healthy part, it won’t flag on a drug-screen. All the THC has been taken out of it.”
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Since some legal products may contain a mix of CBD and THC, or just THC, the testing process will become trickier.
“It depends on the condition that’s being treated,” Schmidt said of what sort of product a patient might take.
“I’m going to envision that most of what we’ll see here in Minnesota will be a combination of the two. From what I’ve seen, personally, cannabadiol by itself is an amazing thing. I’ve seen phenomenal things.”
What Schmidt said concerns her is the general lack of education about what the beginning of this program will mean.
Schmidt said she has had employers say, with the potential for legal marijuana use, “Well, we’ll just quit testing for pot.”
“Uhh, no,” Schmidt said. “When I could get something that impairs me, you want to quit testing for that? No.”
Instead, Schmidt said she advises her clients to expand or amend their workplace drug policy – although only “a handful” have mentioned doing so in the Perham area.
For some, she said, it may also involve switching to a test with a shorter detection span to ensure employees are not impaired or affected while at work. But employers need to be educated about the differences first.
