Part 3: What Illinois cannabis patients really want

We ended Part 2 of this series highlighting registered medical patients concerns with Patient Rights & Civil Protection, Health and Social Equity, and Customer Returns related to the Medical Cannabis Patient Program, the Illinois Cannabis and Tax Act and the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program Act. As mentioned, we are breaking down the articles in this series using categories from the Americans for Safe Access’ (ASA) report that was issued earlier this year. In Part 3, we focus on Illinois’ Program Functionality, including untethering patients to one dispensary, patient purchasing limits, and caregiver standards.

Program Functionality

The ASA report scored Illinois’ Program Functionality 90/100, which seemed to be mostly based on the fact that Illinois dropped the requirement for medical patients to register online to shop at one medical dispensary at a time. Before the change, if a medical patient wanted to shop at a different medical dispensary, the patient had to go to the Illinois Cannabis Tracking System website and change the dispensary at least 20-30 minutes before shopping at the different retail store.

Untethering medical patients to one dispensary at a time and allowing them to change dispensaries was a major improvement in the program’s functionality. I too am pleased about this change. I have had to wait at a dispensary for thirty minutes while the online registry changed the dispensary because I’d forgotten to switch before I drove an hour to get there. However, the report failed to mention that the decision to untether medical patients stemmed from Illinois’ botched transformation of its online patient registry website, which for days had several medical patients scrambling for information or stuck shopping at a dispensary they didn’t want to shop at.

An unintended silver lining for the botched transfer was that more recreational dispensaries started to discount products (most still do) so medical patients were paying “medical prices” for products and not the exorbitant taxes required for adult use, or a discount that would equal the difference. What this change demonstrated was that the original tethering to one medical dispensary, along with a few other procedures, was not necessary in the first place.

The scoring for Program Functionality included many categories. Illinois scored best on Reasonable Possession Limits, Reasonable Purchase Limits, Patient and Physician Representation in Program Decision Making, and Access to Administration Methods. Two of these categories we believed should have had deducted points included Reasonable Purchase Limits and Patient and Physician Representation in Program Decision Making.

We have received dozens of questions and complaints about purchase limits, specifically from patients who use RSO and full spectrum oils, which count more for purchasing limits. Patients often complain RSOs too easily max-out purchasing limits. In Illinois, patients may purchase up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis flower every 14 days. For concentrates, edibles, or other non-flower cannabis products, the pre-weight of the cannabis flower used to make the product counts toward the purchase limit. To help alleviate this problem, physicians do have the ability to increase purchasing limits for patients who need it. We recommend asking.

From the responses we have received, patients also believe points for Patient and Physician Representation in Program Decision Making also should have been deducted, particularly when dealing with Illinois’ Caregiver Standards (which scored 5/5 for Background Checks and Number of Caregivers).

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.”

Many patients have communicated their desire to expand the definition and responsibilities of caregivers (similar to Michigan and other states) to include growing medical cannabis for patients. For many reasons, patients in Illinois may not be able to grow their own medicine at home. One example, landlords are able to not only ban smoking and growing cannabis in their units but can also evict tenants for breaking the rule. In addition, patients cannot legally use or possess cannabis while living in federally subsidized public housing.

Furthermore, if Multiple Sclerosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis are cause for caregivers to be able to “prepare medical cannabis for use by the patient” then the same logic should apply for growing medicine for the patient. Along with the above restrictions, many patients suffer from other physical restrictions that keep them from growing their own medicine. Additional arguments for a Designated Caregiver Program include the ability for caregivers to legally grow cannabis specifically tailored for the patient’s medical needs, at a cheaper price, and with the comfort of knowing exactly how the medicine was prepared and procured.