The Minnesota Department of Health last week added irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to the list of qualifying conditions for accessing the state medical cannabis program. Patients diagnosed with the conditions can begin buying medical cannabis from dispensaries on August 1.
“As we continue to learn more about the benefits of medical cannabis, it’s important that we add this therapy option as a potential treatment to relieve conditions that can be debilitating,” Minnesota Commissioner of Health Dr. Brooke Cunningham said in a press release.
The agency had announced plans to add the conditions last November and they were approved during the department’s annual petition and public comment process for adding conditions to the program.
Minnesota’s medical cannabis qualifying conditions list now includes 19 conditions. To become a patient in the state’s medical cannabis program, a person must be certified by a participating health care practitioner for at least one qualifying medical condition.
In May, Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed legislation to legalize cannabis for adult use. Under the law, adults aged 21-and-older will be allowed to possess cannabis for personal use and cultivate their own plants starting on August 1. The law also creates a new Office of Cannabis Management, which will oversee the licensing of medical and adult-use cannabis operators and set regulations for the industries, as well as for hemp-derived consumer products.
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