Cannabis company pays out $3 million after asthma attack as risk grows

A Missouri cannabis company must pay out $3 million to a former consultant who claims a severe asthmatic reaction to finely ground marijuana particles led to a debilitating heart attack.

The penalty assessed against St. Louis-based Blue Arrow for contributing to Mark Avent’s injury comes as recently published research highlights the risks of cannabis cultivation and manufacturing workers developing asthma – and, in at least two cases, dying.

Cannabis workers are at heightened risk of developing workplace-related asthma, according to research published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine last month.

Workplace-related asthma has killed two cannabis workers

To date, workplace-related asthma has led to the deaths of at least two workers – one in Massachusetts in 2022 and a second, more recent worker in California, according to the researchers.

They found at least 30 cannabis workers in four legal states have developed asthma after exposure to irritants at work – most often plant materials in indoor cultivation/production spaces.

The real number is likely higher as workers under-report the condition, according to the research.

And the condition can arise suddenly and seriously, as The Missouri Independent reported.

Missouri cannabis company must pay $3 million after dust incident

Last week, a St. Louis jury awarded Avant $3 million after a four-day trial found Blue Arrow was at fault when a lab technician mishandled a vacuum and blew fine marijuana dust particles into the air, the paper reported.

That led to Avery suffering a severe asthma attack followed by cardiac arrest, the newspaper reported.

Blue Arrow did not comment on the ruling, the Independent reported.

But the details are eerily similar to a known incident in which ground cannabis dust was blamed for a cannabis worker death.

Familiar tragic sequence of events in cannabis worker death

In January 2022, a 27-year-old worker at a Trulieve Cannabis Corp. cultivation facility collapsed while on the job and later died.

A later Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) report identified “the hazards of ground cannabis dust” as the key factor in Lorna McMurrey’s death.

Massachusetts regulators imposed a $350,000 fine on the company, which ceased operations in the state in 2023.

A lawsuit is ongoing.

But, according to a later OSHA report, several of McMurrey’s coworkers also showed signs of work-related asthma.

Details are scant about the second death, in California.

Cannabis worker deaths, asthma are preventable

McMurrey’s death was avoidable, said Kenneth Rosenman, a Michigan State University professor and one of the study authors.

“The person went to the doctor multiple times and said, ‘Doc, I can’t breathe when I go to work. I just can’t tolerate this.’”

“And yet, the doctor didn’t write medical restrictions, didn’t tell the person to get out of there, and the person died,” Rosenman told Capitol News Service.