How to Qualify For a Medical Marijuana Card in Pennsylvania
Marijuana was made medically legal in Pennsylvania back in 2016. Although it’s been close to 10 years, there are still many questions regarding how you actually qualify for a medical marijuana card. Let’s take a look at what conditions and ailments would qualify you for a medical marijuana card in Pennsylvania.
Qualifying Conditions for Medical Card in Pennsylvania
Only a registered doctor can prescribe you a medical marijuana card after a consultation and payment to the state. Here is a list of conditions of how to qualify for a medical marijuana card in Pennsylvania:
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- Anxiety disorders – This is the most common reason people qualify for medical marijuana. It is a wide definition and just saying you have anxiety usually qualifies you.
- Autism
- Cancer, including remission therapy – This is one of the more studied conditions that marijuana can greatly benefit.
- Chronic Hepatitis C
- Crohn’s disease
- Damage to the nervous tissue of the central nervous system (brain-spinal cord) with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity, and other associated neuropathies
- Dyskinetic and spastic movement disorders;
- Epilepsy
- Glaucoma – This is what people used to say before medical marijuana was even legal. It is one of the most studied conditions for marijuana.
- HIV / AIDS
- Huntington’s disease
- Inflammatory bowel disease – This is also a widely used condition for people to qualify for medical marijuana.
- Intractable seizures
- Multiple sclerosis
- Neurodegenerative diseases
- Neuropathies
- Opioid use disorder for which conventional therapeutic interventions are contraindicated or ineffective, or for which adjunctive therapy is indicated in combination with primary therapeutic interventions
- Parkinson’s disease
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Severe chronic or intractable pain of neuropathic origin or severe chronic or intractable pain
- Sickle cell anemia
- Terminal illness
- Tourette syndrome
- Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) with Chronic Symptoms
- Type II Diabetes Mellitus
(From the Commonwealth of PA website)
Restrictions on How to Qualify for a Medical Marijuana Card in Pennsylvania
Aside from not having one of the conditions listed above, there is another major restriction in the way of how to qualify for a medical marijuana in Pennsylvania. And that is owning a gun. If you own a gun or plan to, you cannot get a medical marijuana card. The Federal Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibits people from owning a firearm if they use any controlled substances. Right now under federal law, marijuana is a controlled substance. There are some legal battles taking place to try and change this, but as of right now the law still stands.
Alternative to Medical Marijuana Cards
You may have heard about THCa flower. That is because it is the same as marijuana, just defined in a different legal way. The Farm Bill of 2018 legalized hemp-derived THC. THCa flower is just marijuana that is legally defined as hemp. Everything else is exactly the same.
You can purchase it with a credit or debit card, you can buy it online and have it delivered, and it’s usually much cheaper than medical marijuana. If you want to read more about THCa and how it is the same as real weed, take a look here. You can purcahse flower, edibles, drinks, tinctures, topicals, and more, all from the comfort of your own home. Some companies even offer same day delivery.
