debilitating conditions

Director’s Decision: Cannabis & Palliative Care for PTSD

By |2017-02-10T09:49:35-07:00July 9th, 2014|General|

Last December I denied a petition to add Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to the list of debilitating medical conditions that qualify people for an Arizona Medical Marijuana Registration Card.  I denied the petition because, at the time, I believed there was a lack of scientific evidence to document whether Cannabis is helpful or not to [...]

Petitions to Add Debilitating Conditions to the MM List

By |2017-02-10T09:50:18-07:00July 23rd, 2013|General|

The AZ Medical Marijuana Act also requires us to periodically accept petitions to permanently add new medical conditions to the list of conditions that qualify folks for a card.  In Jan 2012, we’ve received petitions to add PTSD 1; PTSD 2; Depression; Migraines; and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. In short- I didn’t approve the petitions because of the lack of published [...]

New M2 Petitions on Horizon Again

By |2017-02-10T09:50:45-07:00January 23rd, 2013|General|

Last January we accepted petitions from the public to add PTSD 1; PTSD 2; Depression; Migraines; and Generalized Anxiety Disorder to the list of conditions that qualify patients to receive a Medical Marijuana Registration Card.  Because my guiding principle for making the decision was to use science and research to make the decision, we contracted with the U of [...]

M2 Petition Decision

By |2017-02-10T09:51:06-07:00July 19th, 2012|General|

The voter approved list of conditions that already qualify patients for an AZ Medical Marijuana Registration Card (with a doctor’s certification) includes any of the following: any chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition (or its treatment) that causes severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, severe and persistent muscle spasms, wasting, or seizures, cancer, glaucoma, HIV, Hepatitis [...]

GRADEing Studies & Evidence

By |2012-07-19T08:04:06-07:00July 19th, 2012|General|

As I mentioned in my previous post, scientific studies (e.g. experimental v. observational design) have different strengths and weaknesses. Sources of evidence range from case reports at the lower end to well-designed large randomized experimental clinical studies that minimize bias.  Relying on poor quality evidence can lead to policy decisions that aren't in patients’ best interests- and it's super important [...]

“It’s a Wrap”

By |2012-05-25T20:47:07-07:00May 25th, 2012|General|

It’s been a busy week for our medical marijuana team.  Our 2-week dispensary application period ended a couple of hours ago…  as did the hearing regarding adding new debilitating medical conditions. We received 484 dispensary applications over the last 2 weeks.  As you know, we have 126 Community Health Analysis Areas (CHAAs) and a maximum [...]

Debilitating Conditions Hearing

By |2017-02-10T09:51:11-07:00May 24th, 2012|General|

Friday afternoon we’re holding a public comment session about whether or not to add four new debilitating conditions to the medical marijuana program.  The comments should center on scientific studies done on how marijuana affects Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Migraines, Depression and Generalized Anxiety Disorder.  We're looking for peer-reviewed, published studies that show the benefit or the [...]

What’s Debilitating?

By |2017-02-10T09:51:13-07:00April 20th, 2012|Uncategorized|

The voter approved language in the AZ Medical Marijuana Act directs us to periodically accept and evaluate petitions to add new debilitating medical conditions.  We’ve made it through the first phase of considering whether to add 4 new debilitating conditions… 1) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; 2) Generalized Anxiety Disorder; 3) Migraines; and 4) Depression.  You’ll [...]

New Debilitating Medical Condition Applications

By |2012-01-17T06:38:37-07:00January 17th, 2012|Licensing, Preparedness|

The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (36-2801.01) directs us to accept and review applications to add new debilitating medical conditions that qualify folks to hold patient registration cards.  We outlined the requirements and review procedures in the Rules we adopted (R9-17-106)- which say that we’ll accept applications every January and July.  We’re planning to accept applications during the last [...]

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