WV Medical Cannabis Patients Can Now Save $100 By Registering By June 30

For a long time now, I’ve bemoaned the lack of incentives for WV medical cannabis patients to register. People, anybody really, are unlikely to do things for which there is no incentive. Fortunately, the Department of Health and Human Resources just announced a bonus for patients that register early:

• Register by June 30, 2021 = card is good for 3 years total (1 year original + 2 years extension) 

• Register by September 30, 2021 = card is good for 2 years total (1 year original + 1 year extension) 

• Register after October 1, 2021 = card is good for 1 year total

DHHR also announced the following fee waiver:

• Patients who have a household income of 200% of the federal poverty level may apply for a waiver of the $50 to the the state to obtain a card

What are the costs for getting a WV medical cannabis card?

• Doctors visit = usually around $200 (though your mileage may vary), insurance usually will not cover any part of it

• Registration = $50, must be renewed yearly (except for early registration exception and household income waiver)

When will medical cannabis be available to West Virginia patients?

Dr. Ayne Amjad, State Health Officer and Commissioner of the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources’ Bureau for Public Health, said the following: “Registering for a medical cannabis card through the web portal will ensure these patients will have access to medical cannabis at the time products are available, which is anticipated by fall 2021.”

So fall is the answer to the question I get asked most often, “when will I actually be able to buy cannabis in a dispensary?” Anyone who’s been following the program, however, has learned to be skeptical of timelines. That being said, It’s actually a reasonable prediction.

So if product is available in fall and if a patient registered at the posting of this article in late spring, it would still be several months before you can legally buy cannabis. If product is available in six months, you would only have six months to use your card before having to pay another $50 card renewal fee. Some potential patients felt paying for a card before they could buy product was a raw deal.

It appears, however, that particular problem has been solved. If you register by June 30th, you’ll not only get 12 months of usable medical cannabis card - you get three years. You’ll also avoid paying for two renewal fees. That’s 100 bucks. And even if you wait to register by September 30, you’ll get one extra year and save 50 bucks. 

Not to mention the hassle. Most people don’t enjoy sitting in doctor’s offices unnecessarily, and no one enjoys filling out paperwork.

So if you do have a qualifying condition, there’s every reason in the world to talk to a certified physician and begin registering as a patient. Here’s the full list:

• Cancer

• Position status for human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immune deficiency syndrome

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

• Parkinson’s disease

• Multiple sclerosis

• Damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity

• Epilepsy

• Neuropathies

• Huntington’s disease

• Crohn’s disease

• Post-traumatic stress disorder

• Intractable seizures

• Sickle cell anemia

• Severe chronic or intractable pain of neuropathic origin or severe chronic or intractable pain

• Terminal illness that is defined as a medical prognosis of life expectancy of approximately one year or less if the illness runs its normal course

What’s next?

I talk to a lot of West Virginians about cannabis. I think there’s a misconception out there that having a medical cannabis program is binary - either you do or you don’t.

There is no magic date where we’ll suddenly have a medical cannabis industry. Every variable affects other variables. It takes patients, doctors, and businesses. Like a table with three legs, the whole thing falls if just one leg is missing.

The more patients that get signed up, the faster the program gets going. The faster the program gets going, the sooner legal cannabis becomes available to medical cannabis patients. That’s the salient and immediate priority.

Doctor participation has been lacking so far as well. There were 50 at last count listed on the Office of Medical Cannabis’ website that can be found at this link here. There most likely more, but this is supposed to be a list of those accepting new patients or at least some new patients. All of them have had to take a 4 hour, almost $200 training course which may be a barrier, but doctors do get continuing education credits which they need anyways. In any case, 50 doctors is not enough.

Good lawmaking by legislatures and good rule making by bureaucracies is also crucial. This recent move to provide this early registration bonus by the rulemaking body gives me confidence on that front, but the legislature has some work to do to ensure the state’s investment is not wasted (like expanding the arbitrarily small list of qualifying conditions). The sooner there is a medical cannabis industry in West Virginia, the sooner we can create jobs, generate tax revenue, and provide suffering patients with long overdue relief.