LISTEN: Research from the University of Georgia shows workers that use medical marijuana are less likely to miss work. GPB's Chase McGee reports.

 

The entrance to the Labor Department is seen near the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 7, 2020.

The entrance to the Labor Department is seen 2020 near the Capitol in Washington, D.C. The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics is one source of long-running, anonymous labor data that provided findings for the study.

Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File

Research from the University of Georgia shows workers that use medical marijuana are less likely to miss work.

For decades, the U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics have collected detailed but anonymous data on employment.

Patryk Babiarz is an associate professor at UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

He looked at 35 years of employment data and found that states with legalized medical marijuana have fewer workers taking sick days.

"What we found was that there is about a 7% decline in the probability that somebody will say that they missed work specifically for a medical reason." he said.

Babiarz emphasized that the study found no significant effect of recreational marijuana on health-related workplace absenteeism.

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