As Illinoisans stay home amid the coronavirus pandemic, one expert predicts that fewer people will apply for medical marijuana cards.
Medical marijuana patient count has steadily increased for months, as the state’s program grew and the number of qualifying conditions increased. There was also an upswing in early January, after recreational weed became legal, as consumers sought ways around sky-high taxes and priority access to weed during a statewide product shortage.
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But the pace of growth has slowed. Patient count grew roughly 9% in the first three months of the year, compared with about 16% growth over the same period in 2019, according to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The pandemic likely will contribute to further slowdown in the weeks ahead, said Bethany Gomez, managing director of cannabis research firm Brightfield Group. As Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order extends through April, fewer people might be willing to visit a doctor’s office for the exams necessary to receive a card.
To get a card in the state, patients must have a medical professional certify that they have one of about 50 qualifying conditions. A doctor must have a physician-patient relationship with the patient to certify them, have recently conducted an in-person exam and assessed their medical history.
Patients also must pay a $100 to $250 application fee to the state, depending on how long they want the card to remain valid.
Some doctors are meeting with patients virtually during the pandemic, but Gomez does not predict those efforts will be enough to reverse the slowdown of applications.
The Department of Public Health has approved more than 110,000 medical marijuana card applications since it began accepting applications for the program in September 2014, according to numbers released Thursday.
Dispensaries have been deemed essential and are allowed to stay open during the statewide shutdown of nonessential businesses designed to help quell the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
But marijuana shops have had to alter operations, figuring out how to keep customers 6 feet apart, implementing preorder systems and taking other measures. Additional perks to having a medical card have emerged as certain dispensaries halted recreational sales and instituted measures such as curbside pickup that are available only to medical patients.
Those perks might have motivated recent medical card applicants, Gomez said, but she expects that to dissipate as doctor appointments let up.
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