In partnership with Modern Compassionate Care to help better advocate for registered qualifying medical patients in Illinois, Illinois News Joint not only will highlight concerns patients have about the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program Act and Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act but also demonstrate with personalized narratives how these concerns actually affect real people who just want to live healthier lives.

As discussed in our 6-part series (Part 3) What Illinois cannabis patients really want, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Guide for Designated Caregivers, “The designated caregiver can purchase medical cannabis on behalf of the patient. Designated caregivers may also prepare medical cannabis for use by the patient – for example, breaking up the cannabis flower for vaporization, which may be difficult for a registered qualifying patient diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis or affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis. Designated caregivers may transport medical cannabis on behalf of the registered qualifying patient.”

We at Illinois News Joint believe the definition and responsibilities of caregivers should be expanded, similar to Michigan and other states, to include growing medical cannabis for patients. Though there are many reasons patients in Illinois are not be able to grow their own medicine at home, we are going to focus on one: Multiple Sclerosis.

Multiple Sclerosis is mentioned in the above Guide for Designated Caregivers as an example of why caregivers are able to “prepare medical cannabis for use by the patient,” and that same logic applies for Caregivers growing medicine for a patient. A perfect illustration of this would be Cow.

Cow, who played three sports in high school and four years of collegiate baseball, had always been active and energetic, until about five years ago when Multiple Sclerosis took over his body. Cow started in the Medicinal Program in 2015 and was one of the first people to buy medical cannabis in Illinois.

“I was diagnosed with MS in 2007 and immediately turned to marijuana when I found out,”

Cow said. “I had been using it since I was 11 years old and wanted to figure out how to use it in medicinal ways for my condition going forward. They had given me pills for spasms, but I hated the way they made me feel, and marijuana helped provide that relief I needed.”

Cow’s Corner

January 2016, Cow became a Product Specialist at the Clinic dispensary. He created journals of every label of every product he’d tried and became a trusted source for those looking for strain information. He had his own section of the dispensary (Cow’s Corner) where he conducted business, and he even had an Illinois concentrate named after him: Kow’s Karma.

“I ultimately had to leave work after the MS took my body, lost use of my hands, barely able to walk without a walker or wheelchair to help, couldn’t stand for more than a few minutes at a time,” Cow said. “It was a difficult decision to make because of my love and respect for the plant and my relationship with patients and my ability to communicate and teach them the way to use this wonderful plant as a medicine, safely.”

Without a job, Cow is now on disability and a limited budget for medicine. After losing the use of his hands and the ability to stand consistently, Cow is physically unable to grow his own medicine and needs a Caregivers Program that would allow for a person to grow medicine for him. This change in the law would have several significant benefits for Cow and other medical patients across Illinois, such as saving a significant amount of money, producing enough medicine for his needs, producing the exact strains and effect he needs, knowing exactly how his medicine is grown, and more.

We believe every registered medical patient in Illinois should have access to individualized homegrown medicine, and redefining the responsibilities of the Caregivers Program would accomplish that for Cow and other Illinois medical cannabis patients who deal with restricted access and other barriers to growing medicine at home. To qualify and receive a medical patient card at a discounted rate, visit here.

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