MASSACHUSETTS, USA — The U.S. cannabis production industry’s first reported occupational asthma death took the life of a worker in Massachusetts, federal health and safety officials said.
The woman, 27, was working in a cannabis cultivation and processing facility when she experienced worsening work-related respiratory symptoms that ended in a fatal asthma attack in January 2022, officials said in a federal report published Thursday. The report states that allergic diseases such as asthma are a growing concern in the U.S. cannabis industry, which has grown rapidly in recent years thanks to a wave of state-level legalizations.
The report said the worker's death “illustrates missed opportunities for prevention, including workplace exposures, medical surveillance, and treatment according to the current asthma guidelines.” The report does not name the worker or the Massachusetts facility.
However, the report does state that evaluation of workers with new-onset or worsening asthma is essential in cannabis facilities. That approach could help prevent workplace deaths when paired with “with prompt diagnosis and medical management,” the report states.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the report, which it said represented findings of a federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection that included a worksite exposure assessment, coworker and next-of-kin interviews, medical record reviews, and collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The report cites studies that identify respiratory hazards in the cannabis cultivation and production industry, such as microbial and plant allergens. The report also states that chemicals such as pesticides and allergens specific to the cannabis plant itself can be a hazard.
The finding comes as the legalization of recreational marijuana, and the resultant growth of the cannabis industry, is spreading. Almost half the states allow adult recreational use of marijuana. Legalizations began in 2012 with Washington and Colorado.
Advocates for safety in the marijuana industry have called for more safeguards to make sure the cannabis business doesn’t put workers or the public at risk.
The death of the Massachusetts worker “should be a big red flag to lawmakers that we need to put way more guardrails around that industry,” said Scott Gagnon, a cannabis industry watchdog who advocates for the prevention of substance abuse in Maine, where marijuana has been legal for several years.
The industry wants to be as safe as possible, said Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, the marijuana law reform group, adding that the “likelihood of such incidences is greatly reduced in environments where cannabis businesses are licensed, regulated, and required to adhere to the same sort of workplace safety regulations and standards as others."
“Furthermore, when such incidences do occur, the regulated marketplace ensures that they are properly investigated and that corrective actions are taken to prevent future incidents,” Armentano said.
