March 11, 2019 The New Hampshire Supreme Court has overturned a labor appeals board determination that workers' compensation insurance will not reimburse an employee for the cost of his medicinal marijuana. The case is Appeal of Andrew Panaggio N.H. Comp. Appeals Bd., No. 2017-046, 2019 N.H. LEXIS 35 (Mar. 7, 2019).

In 1991 Andrew Panaggio (Panaggio) suffered a severe back injury while working. In 2016 Panaggio was approved by the State Health Department to participate in a therapeutic cannabis program and receive medicinal marijuana for his ongoing severe pain. Panaggio sought reimbursement through his workers' compensation insurer, CNA Insurance Co., (CNA) who denied payment for the claim stating that medicinal marijuana was not "reasonable/necessary or causally related" to the injury.

Panaggio challenged CNA's denial of the claim before the New Hampshire Department of Labor, and the hearing officer assigned to the case found that Panaggio failed to satisfy the burden of proof that medicinal marijuana was reasonable, related, or made necessary due to the work injury Panaggio suffered. Panaggio appealed that hearing officers decision to the board which rejected the denial of the insurance carrier based on Panaggio's use of medicinal marijuana not being medically reasonable or necessary. The board based this decision on Panaggio's testimony that "cannabis is palliative and had the added benefit of reducing his need for opiates" unanimously finding that Panaggio's need was medically reasonable or necessary.