Are you tired of waiting for your new patient medical card to come in the mail? You know the story, your old card expires before the new one comes. Leaving you at risk of being harassed by the police and meaning you can’t purchase your meds. What if it’s your first time joining the medical marijuana program? You have to wait for up to two weeks to be able to go to a dispensary.
Not anymore! That’s right!
Starting Dec 1st, 2019, AZDHS will email you a digital version of your AZ medical marijuana card. This means you can go to the dispensary and be protected sooner. This is also a great back up plan if you misplace your physical medical card. This is neat for dispensary agents, they will be able to start work sooner!
Don’t worry, your current medical cards will still be valid until they expire! Once you renew, you will receive an email instead of a physical card.
Although the concept is not new to many states that have medical cannabis programs, it is here. States like Massachusetts and Michigan have a printed out copy that can be used until the real card comes in the mail, much like the DMV does. Even as messy as things are in Minnesota, with having only 2 dispensaries, have an email copy sent so that patients can have access to their medicine, right away.
We asked Mikel Weisser, the state director of Norml how he feels about this new change…“As a patient who spends money on my medical marijuana and pays into the DHS system, I very much appreciate the upgrade. As a cannabis advocate, I think an idea that is long overdue. Lastly, as an Arizonan, I appreciate our state government finally catching up with the 21st century”.
Now that medical cards are good for 2 years valid Aug 27, 2019, going digital is just an added bonus… With the start date of Dec 1st, it’s right in time for the holidays.