Skinner received support, as inquiry board chair Benjamin Perryman ruled that the Canadian Elevator Industry Welfare Trust Plan contradicted the province's Human Rights Act. Perryman also ruled that the organization must cover all Skinner's medication expenses "up to and including the full amount of his most recent prescription."
"Denial of his request for coverage of medical marijuana… amounts to a prima facie case of discrimination," the ruling stated. "The discrimination was non-direct and unintentional."
According to Perryman's ruling, Skinner's inability to manage pain properly as a result of the denial of coverage resulted in "profoundly negative effects on the complainant and his family."
Many private and public insurers in Canada have not, until now, recognized the use of marijuana as a medicine. According to Deepak Anand, the executive director of the Canadian National Medical Marijuana Association, this ruling will help more people to get coverage.
Currently, marijuana possession, consumption, or production is legal only under a license issued by Health Canada. It is believed that cannabis will be legalized for recreational use this year, as well. However, according to Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer, the legal sale of recreational marijuana is unlikely to start before 2018, and the plant will be controlled for a brief time after it is legalized.
