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Missouri voters legalized marijuana for medical purposes last week, but the state will likely see no clinic open until the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020.
The amendment 2, pbaded with nearly two-thirds of the vote, defeated two other voting issues to establish Missouri as the 31st state to authorize marijuana for medical purposes. At present, the Department of Health and Personal Services will create rules and regulations for the program, the first deadline being the first week of June
. The first step in the process will be to create applications for patients, producers and retailers. Although the department can act more quickly, the following are the timelines the department must follow to create and accept licenses:
• First week of June: patient, culture, infusion product manufacturer and dispensary become available.
• First week of July: the department begins accepting patient license applications.
• First week of August: The department begins accepting applications for a culture license, a manufacturer of infused products and a dispensary license.
Jack Cardetti, spokesperson for New Approach Missouri, stated that the deadlines set out in the amendment had been set in order to ensure the smooth running of the program.
"Implementation is always a delicate line because we want to bring relief to patients as quickly as possible, but we also want the Missouri Department of Health to have the time to do it right and to make sure that our program is efficient and effective, "said Cardetti. "The ministry could make these applications available sooner, and hopefully, but the first week of June is the first deadline."
Once the application has been received, the department has 150 days to grant or refuse a license. . The department, as a minimum, must issue 192 statewide dispensary licenses, 24 in each of the eight congressional districts. The minimum licenses for culture products and infusion products are 61 and 82 respectively.
Only holders of a qualified health problem will be able to obtain a patient card. This medical condition is cancer; epilepsy; glaucoma; insoluble migraines not responding to another treatment; chronic conditions that cause persistent severe pain or persistent muscle spasms, such as multiple sclerosis; debilitating psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, if they are diagnosed by a state-approved psychiatrist; HIV and AIDS; chronic medical conditions normally treated with a prescription drug that may be addictive, when a physician believes that marijuana for medical purposes may be used as a safer alternative; any terminal illness; and, in the professional opinion of a physician, any other chronic medical problem, debilitating or otherwise.
New Approach has always defined the wording of the amendment as being "patient-friendly", which means that it gives physicians and patients the opportunity to discuss medical marijuana as an option. possible treatment. The law does not require doctors to recommend marijuana for medical purposes, and the wording of the patient's claim will be left to the Ministry of Health.
"It gives power to doctors and doctors to determine when their patient has a critical illness that they believe would be better treated with marijuana for medical purposes than opioids," Cardetti said. "At the moment, many health professionals believe that their hands are linked, and we want the doctor and the patient to make that decision."
Persons applying for a license, regardless of their type of license, will also have to pay a license fee. initially and annually. The patient cards are valid for one year, while the culture products, the infusions and the dispensary licenses are valid for three years. The fees are as follows:
• Patient: $ 25 a year.
• Culture: $ 10,000 initially, $ 25,000 a year; after 2021, the initial costs are $ 5,000
• Infused products: $ 6,000 initially, $ 10,000 annually; after 2021, the initial fees fall to $ 3,000.
• Dispensary: $ 6,000 initially, $ 10,000 per year; after 2021, the initial fees fall to $ 3,000.
License fees should be sufficient to cover the costs of administering the program for the department.
"It's one of the things we've been working on very hard: to make sure the system has enough money to be operational and you would not need to go to the legislature to get money, "said Cardetti.
The amendment also provides for a patient farmer's license, which allows the patient to grow six plants at
" We think it's important to give this option to patients who are either too sick or too poor to access medical marijuana at a clinic, "Cardetti said.]
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