Injuries covered by comp in bill despite positive marijuana test

Kentucky lawmakers introduced legislation that would amend state law to exclude certain levels of marijuana in the blood from the presumption that a worker’s injury was caused by drug use.

H.B. 529, introduced Monday, would eliminate the presumption that employees who sustained workplace injuries and had detectable levels of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in their systems were injured as a result of the drug, as long as the workers had no other unprescribed substances in their bodies and the amount of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol measured in the workers’ bodies through scientifically reliable testing was less than 5 nanograms.

The bill has been referred to the committee on committees.