“I’m dealing with chronic pain from an old motocross accident and I’m scared of taking opioids. I live in New York. Would I qualify for a medical marijuana card to buy weed here in New York?”
Roy A.
The list of qualifying conditions to get your medical marijuana card in New York are as follows:
- Chronic Pain (Arthritis, Migraine, Fibromyalgia, Back Pain, Neck Pain, Severe Dysmenorrhea, Endometriosis, Uterine Fibroids, etc)
- P.T.S.D. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia, Panic Attacks, etc)
- I.B.D. Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s Disease, I.B.S. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Abdominal pain, gas, bloating, cramps, etc)
- Pain that degrades health and functional capacity where the use of medical marijuana is an alternative to opioid use.
- Opioid Use Disorder/Substance Use Disorder, you must be enrolled in an Article 32 Treatment program
- Neuropathy, Radiculopathy, sciatica, pinched nerve, numbness, tingling
- Epilepsy, Seizure Disorder
- Cancer
- HIV or AIDS
- A.L.S. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (A.K.A. Lou Gehrig’s Disease)
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity
- Huntington’s Disease
Associated or complicating conditions include:
- PTSD
- Opioid Use Disorder (must be in an Article 32 Treatment program)
- Seizures
- Severe Nausea
- Severe or Persistent Muscle Spasms
- Severe or Chronic pain resulting in substantial limitation of function
- Cachexia/Wasting Syndrom
It’s always good to check back to the cannabis regulations page in the state of New York, as things change over time.
Hope this helps!
Anne.Y
Yes, you would. Sorry to hear about your accident and discomfort. Your condition, chronic pain, is exactly the type that New York’s medical cannabis laws were designed to address. According to the New York State Department of Health:
“You may be eligible for medical marijuana if you have been diagnosed with one or more of the following severe debilitating or life-threatening conditions: cancer, HIV infection or AIDS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury with spasticity, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, neuropathy, Huntington’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, pain that degrades health and functional capability as an alternative to opioid use or substance use disorder.”
To obtain the medical marijuana card you need to to purchase medical marijuana from a legal dispensary, you must:
- Contact a registered practitioner to see if medical cannabis may be able to help with your condition.
- Obtain patient certification from a registered practitioner.
- Register online—a registry ID card will be mailed after the application is approved.
- Buy your medical cannabis from a licensed dispensary.
The easiest way to get your medical marijuana card is to have an online consultation with HelloMD. Meet with a doctor or nurse online and get expert cannabis advice. Assuming you are approved, you get your medical card in days – it’s super easy and discreet too.
Carl.S
The good news is, since New York made medical cannabis legal in 2016, it has been expanding the list of conditions covered and making other improvements in terms of access and the range of weed products available.
In October 2021, the New York State Office of Cannabis Management announced several enhancements to its Medical Marijuana Program. It advanced regulations for public comment that would allow medical weed patients to grow their own cannabis plants, saving the higher dispensary costs.
It also added whole flower weed to be used for vaporization; made permanent the temporary waiver of the $50 patient and caregiver registration fee; and allowed registered organizations to dispense up to a 60-day supply of medical marijuana to a registered patient, following the recommendations of their medical practitioner.
As well, the state expanded the types of practitioners who can certify patients for the medical use of marijuana to “anyone who is licensed, registered, or certified by New York State to prescribe controlled substances to humans within the State such as dentists, podiatrists, and midwives.”
Practitioners must complete at least a two-hour course and register with the New York Department of Health before they can begin certifying patients for medical cannabis.
Jody H.
A good reason to get your medical marijuana card is that even though adult-use weed has been legalized in New York, it may be a long time before you can actually buy it in a legal dispensary. Some sources even predict we might not see any legal recreational dispensaries operating at all in 2022.
By the end of 2021, every city and town in the state was supposed to decide whether or not they should allow cannabis dispensaries and/or consumption spots to operate within their borders.
Any town that didn’t submit a decision would automatically opt in. In the run-up to Dec. 31, 2021, far more municipalities were opting out of at least one of the two possible forms of cannabis access in their districts. Some estimates had 642 dispensary opt-outs and 733 consumption site opt-outs at the beginning of 2022.
Apparently, New York State hasn’t yet issued any licenses to the companies that will supply, ship, and sell legal cannabis to customers, so it’s going to be a while before legal recreational sales are underway.
But the good news is, if you have a qualifying medical condition, you can get a medical marijuana card to access cannabis right now from legal, quality-controlled sources. It’s fast, easy, and cost-effective to get your medical cannabis card in New York through HelloMD.
Register online, pay a $129 consulting fee, have a telehealth consultation with an approved medical practitioner, receive your medical authorization, and then make your first purchase from a medical marijuana dispensary.
Aldus Paige
