Three New Jersey Municipalities Will Offer Medical Marijuana Benefits To Public Workers, An Apparent First In The U.S.

In what appears to be a first for public workers in the U.S., medical marijuana coverage is being added as a healthcare benefit for employees in three New Jersey municipalities, providing access to discounts at participating dispensaries as well as cannabis-related telehealth care.

Employees of the city of Trenton, as well as the boards of education in Orange and Teaneck, New Jersey, are eligible for the new employee benefit, which is facilitated through the company Bennabis Health. Participating workers will reportedly get at least 15 percent off the amount that a typical medical marijuana patient would pay.

Bennabis, which also works with private employers, separately signaled its expansion into Maine this week, announcing partnerships with dispensaries in four localities there.

The news comes roughly a year after Bennabis announced what it called the “first group health medical cannabis program” available as an add-on workplace benefit, meant to reduce out-of-pocket costs for employees who use cannabis therapeutically. In addition to New Jersey, the company offers discounts at dispensaries in Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Mexico and Washington, D.C.

Bennabis leadership said this month that the company is currently negotiating with other local governments to offer similar public employee benefits, according to NJ.com, which first reported the New Jersey plans.

Company co-founder and president Don Parisi told the publication that the benefit in Trenton, which will be offered broadly to city workers, is a historic development.

“What is happening with Trenton is so profound that, to our knowledge, it is the first time in U.S. history that an employer who is not already in the cannabis industry is offering to make cannabis accessible as an employee benefit,” he said. “This is not only a local milestone, it is likely a first in national history.”

Trenton’s mayor, Reed Gusciora (D), said he supports Bennabis’s mission of normalizing medical marijuana as a healthcare benefit.

“We’re excited to support Bennabis’s initiative to provide insurance coverage for medical marijuana,” he told NJ.com. “This forward-thinking plan not only makes treatment more accessible for patients but also acknowledges the growing body of evidence supporting the benefits of medical marijuana.”

Steph Sherer, founder and president of the advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, meanwhile, noted that similar benefits had been offered in the past around alternative therapies such as acupuncture.

“Now the model is being applied to cannabis,” she said.

The benefits involve partnerships between insurance carrier Aetna, the benefits manager Broadreach Medical Resources and Leafwell, a company that helps patients obtain state medical marijuana cards as well as related educational materials.

Regarding its new initiative in Maine, Bennabis says it has partnered with two dispensary brands in that state: Sweet Dirt Dispensaries in Portland, Waterville and Eliot as well as Brilliant Buds in Bethel. Those retailers give a 15 percent discount to Bennabis Health Premium members, the company said.

Notably, the products are “subject to mandatory testing for pesticides, heavy metals, and toxins, as well as yeast and mold to protect health and safety, at the best pricing in Maine,” according to the Bennabis press release. It points out that Maine doesn’t otherwise require independent lab testing of medical marijuana.

“Since Maine medical cannabis is not required to be independently tested, tracked and traced from seed to sale, we have a unique opportunity to expand our services to our patients by joining the Bennabis network,” Taylor Michaud, manager of the Brilliant Buds and Sweet Dirt retail store operations, said in an included statement.

In October of last year, when Bennabis announced its first group health medical cannabis program, marketing head Cynthia Tantum said the company’s goal “is to expand into all states that offer medical cannabis.”

“We are open to talking with any medical cannabis dispensaries interested in joining the network,” Tantum said at the time.

Also last year, a Massachusetts nonprofit calling itself “the first and only licensed provider of psychedelic health plans” announced that it would cover psilocybin-assisted therapy in states where it’s legal. Enthea had previously announced that it would cover ketamine treatment nationwide.

The nonprofit previously worked with soap company Dr. Bronner’s to offer psychedelic-assisted therapy to workers through their employee health plans.

The 2022 partnership with Dr. Bronner’s, in which the soap company offered “free ketamine-assisted therapy to all benefit-eligible employees” through Enthea, led to about 7 percent of the company’s workforce signing up for the employer-provided benefit. The results were generally positive, with employees who received ketamine treatment reporting “dramatic improvements in mental health,” according to an evaluation of the program.

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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.