According to a study published in the Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, medical marijuana laws are associated with a notable reduction in health-related workplace absences.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Georgia and the University of Southern Maine, analyzed monthly data from the Current Population Survey from January 1990 through March 2025. The final sample included more than 20 million working adults, with researchers examining how changes in state marijuana laws affected whether workers reported missing work due to illness, injury or other medical reasons.
Researchers found that the decriminalization of medical marijuana reduced the likelihood of health-related workplace absenteeism by about 6.9%. The effect was stronger and more statistically significant when measured from the point of medical marijuana decriminalization rather than the start of regulated sales.
By contrast, the study found no statistically significant effect from recreational marijuana legalization on health-related workplace absenteeism, regardless of whether researchers measured legalization from the point of decriminalization or the start of licensed sales.
The reduction in absences was especially pronounced in occupations and industries where chronic pain, repetitive physical work and job-related strain are more common. For example, researchers found that medical marijuana decriminalization was associated with a 39% reduction in health-related absences among fabricators, assemblers and other manual laborers, and a 33% reduction among industrial machine operators.
Significant reductions were also found among health service workers, farm workers, food preparation workers, sales workers and several other occupations. Among industries, declines were seen in durable goods manufacturing, nondurable goods manufacturing, agriculture, construction, business services and personal services.
The researchers said the findings are consistent with the possibility that medical marijuana access helps some workers manage symptoms such as chronic pain or stress, reducing the need to miss work for health reasons. However, they noted that the data does not directly show whether individual workers used marijuana, what conditions they may have had or whether cannabis was used as a substitute for other medications.
Importantly, the study found no occupation or industry in which medical marijuana laws were linked to a statistically significant increase in health-related workplace absenteeism.
The authors said the findings suggest the workplace effects of marijuana laws vary depending on the type of policy, the workers being studied and the outcome being measured. While medical marijuana laws were linked to fewer sickness-related absences, recreational legalization did not show the same effect.
