The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), in conjunction with the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board (MCAB), hosted its first meeting of the year from 3:30-5 p.m. today. MCAB members focused on the re-introduction of board members, board procedures, updates, and a framework for reviewing evidence for proposed new qualifying conditions.

Melisa Stalets, IDPH Deputy Director, Office of Health Promotion, delivered a brief update, announcing that the new medical patient registration portal recently had gone live and that all four conditions that had been approved last year have been used by medical professionals to provide a patient with a medical card. The board also introduced the new Chair, Leslie Mendoza Temple, and new Co-Chair, James Champion, who were appointed last September.

Dr. Catherine Counard, IDPH’s Preventive Medicine Medical Advisor, presented visual slides proposing an “Evidence Evaluation Framework” for reviewing evidence for proposed new qualifying conditions to ensure that board members and state officials are receiving the best and most updated scientific information possible for each new qualifying conditions. Dr. Temple also presented a mini-review discussion about evidence for accepting and denying new medical conditions.

No new qualifying conditions were proposed before last year’s June deadline, so the next meeting, scheduled for 3:30-5:00 p.m., Sept. 15, will be more educational and informational with no consideration for new conditions. The board assigned members to review, as mandated by law, recent most-recent evidence for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Migraines and report back at the September meeting.

Board member also quickly addressed concerns for the lack of medical products in dispensaries since adult-use legalization and agreed that the board should do what is in its limits to help address this issue. Next petition submissions for proposed new qualifying conditions are due between Jan. 1-31, 2026.

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