Application process opens June 1 for medical marijuana program
Wednesday is the first day that people who plan to take advantage of the state’s medical marijuana program can apply for the program.
The Mississippi Department of Health will have applications online for patients, medical practitioners, facilities and services related to the medical marijuana program.
The state Department of Revenue will be licensing dispensaries beginning in July.
There is a 30-day approval time for license applications and a five-day approval time for program patients.
In order to apply, a pre-applications checklist must be completed, which includes reading the Medical Cannabis Act, reviewing the regulations that apply to your application, complete a background check, complete a fingerprinting process and get a digital photo.
Practitioners also have to complete an eight-hour continuing education program and submit credentials.
The following medical conditions or their treatment qualify for participation in the medical marijuana program:
- Cancer
- Parkinson’s disease
- Huntington’s disease
- Muscular dystrophy
- Glaucoma
- Spastic quadriplegia
- Positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
- Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
- Hepatitis
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
- Crohn’s disease
- Ulcerative colitis
- Sickle-cell anemia
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Agitation of dementia
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Autism
- Pain refractory to appropriate opioid management
- Diabetic/peripheral neuropathy
- Spinal cord disease or severe injury
Also qualifying is a chronic terminal or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces one or more of the following:
- Cachexia or wasting syndrome
- Chronic pain
- Severe or intractable nausea
- Seizures
- Severe and persistent muscle spasms including, but not limited to, those characteristic of multiple sclerosis
