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A recent Oklahoma court ruling that an injured worker can win compensation benefits even with a positive drug test has clarified related law at a time when medical marijuana may soon be widely available in the state, according to legal and business experts.

“The presence of an intoxicating substance in the blood does not automatically mean that person is intoxicated,” the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals stated in its Nov. 16 opinion.

The court also sent a stern warning to the 4-year-old Workers’ Compensation Commission to stay in its lane and not substitute its judgment about the weight of evidence or facts for that of an administrative law judge.

The workers compensation case arose from an accident in 2017 at Berry Plastics Corp. Dillon S. Rose, an employee, had been trying to fix a “guillotine machine” when a co-worker activated the machine, crushing Rose’s hand.