Minn.: Medical cannabis program considering expanding, add your voice

Minnesota’s Office of Medical Cannabis is once again considering adding new qualifying medical conditions and a mode of administration to the medical cannabis program. It is accepting public comment on:

• Sensible Minnesota’s petition to add GI-uptake infused edibles (i.e., edibles that are not dissolved orally, such as chewable products), and
• Adding anxiety disorder and/or specific sub-conditions — generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety/ social phobia, panic disorder, specific phobias, separation anxiety, and agoraphobia. The Office of Medical Cannabis seeks to limit the condition to individuals who are 25 or older.

You can add your voice in support of expanding the program by submitting written comment by October 1.

Email health.cannabis.adddeliverymethod@state.mn.us to support GI edibles as a new delivery method. Email health.cannabis.addmedicalcondition@state.mn.us to support adding anxiety disorder as a qualifying medical condition and to weigh in on the proposed limitation to those 25 or older.

Or send postal mail to:

Office of Medical Cannabis 
P.O. Box 64882
St. Paul, MN 55164-0882

When Minnesota’s medical cannabis law passed in 2014, its list of qualifying conditions and modes of administration were among the most restrictive in the country — leaving behind huge numbers of patients and prohibiting raw cannabis. But, thanks to years of advocacy led by Sensible Minnesota, the program has steadily improved. Chronic pain, macular degeneration, PTSD, autism, and obstructive sleep apnea have been added through the petition process, and the legislature added whole-plant flower cannabis this year.

Please comment on one or both petitions to help the program continue to improve. To go the extra mile, forward this message to other Minnesotans who may be interested in raising their voices.