The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), in conjunction with the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board (MCAB), hosted its June meeting from 3-5 p.m. today. MCAB members voted to recommend Uterine Fibroid and Painful Uterine Fibroid but did not recommend Generalized Anxiety as a qualifying debilitating condition.

The eight board members present for a quorum included Dr. Felicia Davis Fourté, Dr. Amarish Davé, Joseph Friedman, Dr. Gunar Subieta Benito, Katie Sullivan, Maureen Surin, Joyce Smith Latrice, and Jim Champion. For the first time, no speakers from the public spoke at the monthly meeting. After back-and-forth discussion, board members first voted 7-0 to approve Uterine Fibroid as a qualifying debilitating condition. Subieta Benito abstained from the vote. Board members next voted unanimously (8-0) to recommend Painful Uterine Fibroid as a qualifying debilitating condition.

After more discussion, the final vote for Generalized Anxiety resulted in a 4-4 tie and was not recommended. Champion, Fourté, Sullivan, and Surin voted to include Generalized Anxiety as a qualifying debilitating condition. Davé, Friedman, Smith Latrice, and Subieta Benito voted against recommending Generalized Anxiety.

During discussion for and against, the overall theme of the meeting kept coming back to safety and education for patients, as well as providers and dispensary staff. Friedman commented that when the original MCAB was enacted, Generalized Anxiety had been voted down. Friedman said, “I’m not opposed to Generalized Anxiety as being a qualifying condition, but I am concerned that anyone walking into a dispensary, whether it be recreation or medical is not really going to get the proper advice and information to handle that…So there’s all kinds of qualifiers for what general anxiety really is, and I think it’s just too general.”

Sullivan agreed with broad anxiety diagnoses and that cannabis does not work for all anxiety conditions, but for some people, she said, it might. Sullivan stated, “Approving it as a condition is going to make it more likely that people will then seek out that certification and talk to a provider about it and be able to get that (needed educational) information about it.”

Sullivan continued by saying that anxiety is one-of-the-top three reasons people report using cannabis, so “people are already utilizing this for anxiety.” Sullivan also was worried that people may not be getting the best information while in a dispensary and at some providers. Later in the discussion, Sullivan added, “This is something I hope that maybe the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board can advocate for: some basic training for providers and for dispensary staff around some of (these conditions).”

In closing discussions, Surin and Champion added to the education and safety theme. Surin said, “If we have control over it and keep ourselves educated and keep our dispensaries educated, we’re addressing the problem, not running from it, and that’s why I’m in favor.” Champion spoke next and agreed with Surin, and added, “I think the key that has been going throughout this meeting has been education, mainly of the public, and as a board, I would hope that we can recommend to the Governor’s Office that we need a good sizable investment or public education. Maybe they could take some of the (monies) that they’ve had from cannabis tax revenues . . . and invest it in public education. We need to get the information out there to the general public and to doctors.”

The final statements focused on a recommendation by Friedman, back by Surin and Sullivan, to better utilize the board’s full potential, adding, “I love the fact that this MCAB board was recreated, but I don’t think we’re being utilized to the best of our abilities to improve this program for patients in Illinois.” Allison Nickrent, Director of Governmental Affairs at Illinois Department of Public Health, responded by saying that when this board was created, the desire for the board was to prioritized those conditions and that the department “does really want to rely on the expertise of this board.” She stated, “I think there’s opportunity for engagement on other types of issues.”

MCAB has recommended that Endometriosis, Female Organismic Disorder, Ovarian Cyst, and Uterine Fibroid be added to Illinois’ list of qualifying debilitating condition. Separate votes for a “qualifying term” to the condition also was recommended for Painful Ovarian Cyst and Painful Uterine Fibroid. These recommendations will be forwarded all at once to the Director, who will make the final decision, though a date for the final decisions has not yet been set. Now that Generalized Anxiety and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome have not been recommended, the conditions will have to be reintroduced during the next annual process in order to revisit a vote.

MCAB has scheduled its July meeting for Monday, July 22, 2024, 3-5 p.m., or a meeting may be scheduled at the call of the Chair.

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