Marijuana legalization is increasingly prevalent in the United States. Whether for medicinal or recreational use, marijuana is more acceptable these days. A greater number of physicians are prescribing it for their patients, and the U.S. marijuana industry is rapidly expanding. Yet it is still a Schedule 1 drug, as defined by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). So is an employee who is either prescribed or legally using marijuana eligible to receive workers’ compensation (WC) benefits if they are injured on the job and test positive for it?

At last month’s Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, we were each honored to become Associates of the CAS and receive our ACAS credentials. What made this time even more special was the fact that we had both followed “non-traditional” routes to join the actuarial profession. We’d like to share some of our reflections on our time at the meeting and our respective career journeys.

We’ve all heard the old adage, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” but the reverse is now top of mind for those of us in northern California. Since November 8th, the Camp Fire in Butte County has burned over 150,000 acres, over 17,000 structures and has claimed over 80 lives, with several hundred souls still missing. While I certainly don’t want to downplay the fire’s devastation, I do want to draw attention to another dangerous matter: the air pollution it has generated.

In recent years, statisticians and researchers have continued to vigorously sound the alarm on the use and abuse of p-values in clinical studies and statistical modeling in general. Look no further than the official statement of the American Statistical Association (ASA), “The ASA’s Statement on p-Values: Context, Process, and Purpose,” that was published just two years ago in response to the ever more heated debate on the confirmatory role of p-values in quantitative science and the validity of statistical inference. While many in the scientific community have generated discussions and commentaries on the misuse of p-values, the ASA’s policy statement succinctly synthesizes “several widely agreed upon principles underlying the proper use and interpretation of the p-value.” The ASA’s statement puts forth six principles aiming to guide practitioners in their search for statistically significant effects, ameliorate the problem of false discovery rates and irreproducibility of results, and thus improve on the applicability of the scientific method.

Reforms to the California workers’ compensation system implemented over the past few years have led to moderating trends in both claim frequency and claim severity. The upward trend expected in future average wage levels is also serving to lower pure premium rates. Given the relative stability in costs over the past several years, the reduction in the average pure premium rates should contribute to a healthy, vibrant and competitive market.