The full results will not be in for months yet, but already a project to move members of LiUNA 625 off of opioids is showing promising results.
Business Manager Rob Petroni tells BlackburnNews.com just shy of 100 members or their family members have made the switch to CBD oil to control pain.
"They don't get paid if they're not at work," says Petroni. "They go to work injured and hurt, and if they're prescribed medicine from the doctor, there's nobody on the planet that thinks they're doing anything wrong or harmful to their bodies."
Last June, the union which represents 1,600 labourers in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent began offering benefits for medicinal marijuana products.
At the time, it was believed to be the first union in North America to offer coverage. Now, Petroni says other unions and organizations are showing interest in LiUNA's experiment.
"Almost all of them have asked, and I know a number of them are in the process that we were in a couple of years ago in getting the ball rolling," he says.
The union started quietly promoting the new benefits and educating members about the dangers of opioid abuse last month. By the end of this year or beginning of 2019, LiUNA should start to get tangible results.
A year ago, the logic behind the decision was rooted in the possible health benefits of weaning members off of opioids, which accounted for 43 deaths in Windsor-Essex in 2015. However, while researching the issue, union leadership realized there was a great deal of money to be saved.
Back then, Petroni said the union was spending upwards of $50,000 a year per member suffering from irritable bowel syndrome. The cost of the same member using cannabis oil was expected to cost just $2,400.
"It seems actually comical that we were discussing cannabis in any other way, other than medical up until this point. It seems so just not part of this world right now," admits Petroni.