If you live in New York, it’s possible for you to get a medical marijuana card to help with a variety of medical concerns. When you first start thinking about getting your New York card, you might be concerned that the process is a bit too complicated for you to get through effectively. In fact, it’s a surprisingly simple process as long as you know the steps.
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4 Steps to Getting a New York Medical Marijuana Card
These are the four steps to getting a New York medical marijuana card.
Have a Qualifying Diagnosis
New York has a number of qualifying diagnoses for medical marijuana. If you’re interested in getting a recommendation for medical marijuana, you’ll want to make sure you have a qualifying diagnosis, which could include:
- HIV/AIDS
- Epilepsy
- PTSD
- Multiple sclerosis
- Ulcerative colitis
This isn’t a complete list of diagnoses, and it’s also allowed for providers to recommend medical marijuana for treatment with “any condition that is treatable with opioids.” Talk to your primary care physician about whether you might qualify based on your diagnosis.
Read: Medical Marijuana for Anxiety Disorder.
Submit Your Information and Match With a Provider
If you’re using an online medical marijuana resource, this is where you’ll submit your information to get matched with a provider that specializes in recommending medical marijuana for your specific condition. Providers often recommend medical marijuana for different conditions more or less frequently, so if you can match with a provider that knows how to treat your specific condition, you’ll be able to get more comprehensive help.
Get a Recommendation From Your Provider
When you actually have your appointment with the medical provider, you’ll talk about what you’re hoping to get out of medical marijuana, as well as get information about the pros and cons of medical marijuana. Remember, even if you book your appointment with an online marijuana doctor, you’re not guaranteed a recommendation. Doctors are required only to give a recommendation if they truly believe that medical marijuana could help an individual’s condition.
Submit Your Medical Marijuana Paperwork
Once you have a recommendation from the doctor and you’re ready to proceed, you’ll submit your medical marijuana paperwork to the state. The doctor will often be able to help you with this, but you’ll typically have to do some of it on your own as well. Once you’ve submitted all the paperwork, you will be able to download a temporary card typically on the same day and you’ll receive your physical card in the mail within a few days.
Conclusion
Getting a medical marijuana card in New York doesn’t have to be a difficult or especially complicated process. If you know all the steps to take, it can often be surprisingly simple. You just need to understand the process of getting a medical marijuana card for it to be as simple as possible. In general, it’s not extremely difficult to get a medical marijuana card in New York if you have an appropriate condition; you just need to make sure that you follow these steps in order.