5 Important Considerations For Keeping A Medical Cannabis Card

This article was originally published on Cannabis & Tech Today and appears here with permission.

Renewing your medical cannabis certificate can be more stressful than it should be. 

There are many problems you can face when renewing your medical cannabis card, whether the process goes quickly or takes months to finish. Hopefully, this article can help you avoid these common problems and make the renewal process run smoothly so you can continue to enjoy the use of your medical cannabis card.

1.  State Requirements

There are many state requirements in order to get a medical cannabis card. Some of these include residency, medical necessity, and an appointment with a physician, among others. 

Make sure you understand all of your state’s requirements before visiting a doctor. One example of this is Arkansas’ medical marijuana act qualifying conditions. Once you have your medical cannabis card, you’ll have access to a number of different dispensaries where you can purchase various strains of cannabis for treatment purposes. 

Before making any purchases at these dispensaries, make sure that they’re selling products that will be useful for your specific condition(s). If they aren’t carrying any products to treat what ails you, consider looking elsewhere to save yourself some time or money later on down the road.

2.  Updates to Personal Information

If you haven’t already registered with your state’s medical cannabis program, it may be time to do so. 

However, it’s important to remember that you need to update your application as soon as possible if any of your personal information changes. For example, if you move or change your phone number, there could be delays in receiving a renewal notification. If that happens, you need to contact your state directly before your card expires.

3.  Verifying Your Eligibility

Once you’ve decided to renew your medical cannabis card, it’s important to verify that you are still eligible. Fortunately, it is quick and easy to check whether or not you can keep your certification. All you need to do is visit your doctor to obtain a certificate of verification. Make sure it’s dated and signed with an original signature stamp, as any other signature will make it invalid.

Also, make sure the doctor you go to is one you trust to be informed on cannabis, as this will make everything go more smoothly.

4.  Payment Processing

Fees are almost guaranteed to be part of the renewal process, whether it’s for the doctor’s appointment or application. Once you have paid these fees, you will have to wait for them to be processed and approved before moving on to the next step. 

Depending on the system used, some payments can take several business days to go through. However, there are some options available to medical cannabis cardholders who are concerned about whether their provider will have reliable payment processing. 

New technology now allows for places to take payments via mobile devices or online to speed up the process.

5.  Waiting for Approval

Once all the other steps are complete, the only thing left to do is wait. The problem of waiting for approval is one that plagues countless medical cannabis patients.

While a speedy renewal service is always the hope, most people don’t know what to do about their long wait when renewal time rolls around. Making sure you complete things early and giving yourself enough time will make waiting a bit less stressful. The only other thing you can do is be patient.

Remember: once you get approval, you will still have to wait for your new card to arrive before being able to purchase any products.

Conclusion

There are many ways you can recover from renewal problems, especially when you find yourself with limited time remaining on your medical cannabis card. 

Using this advice is sure to make renewing your medical cannabis card process easier. There’s always hope for a solution, so be proactive—don’t just sit back and let things pass without trying to resolve them. Doing these things early can help save you time and stress in the long run.