November

A judge in Colorado has ruled that listing offenders' personal information, such as names and addresses, gives the public the power to punish beyond what the court has deemed appropriate.

He also ruled that the Colorado Sex Offender Registration Act violates the 14th Amendment process of rights.

The judge has argued than an individual assessment should be considered for each case.

The Attorney General's Office could appeal the ruling to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

At a recent Workers' Compensation Education Conference, the senior vice president at PRIUM talked about the impact opioid and heroin use is having on the workers' compensation system.

Within this system, there is a growing acceptance that marijuana - a federally illegal controlled substance - could be an acceptable medical treatment, leading to payers reimbursing for cannabis in at least six states.

Financially prudent from a business standpoint, medicinal marijuana could be necessary in the treatment of injured workers. Businesses should begin working marijuana into risk management programs and evaluating policies regarding testing in preparation for the growing acceptance of its medicinal use.

In January, the Department of Health and Human Services revised Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs that will become effective on the 1st of October.

Those organizations that comply with Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) standards must now comply with new panel standards. If specific drug panels are identified in the current policy, updated policy language should also be considered.

Some key points of the guidelines include expanded federal urine workplace drug testing to include Schedule II opioids, a lower pH cutoff from 3 to 4 to identify an adulterated specimen, the removal of methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) for confirmatory testing and the addition of methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) as an initial test analyst.