Iowa medical marijuana program loses one-third of its patients during pandemic
Marijuana Industry NewsMedical Marijuana June 21, 2020 MJ Shareholders 0
The number of patients in Iowa’s medical marijuana program fell by one-third during the COVID-19 pandemic because patients couldn’t see their doctors or go to driver’s license stations to get cannabidiol registration cards, officials said.
Iowa averaged about 360 patients per month in its medical marijuana program between June 2019 and March, when Gov. Kim Reynolds asked Iowans to stay home to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, program manager Owen Parker told the Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board on Friday.
Patient numbers have averaged 244 per month for April, May and June so far, he said.
“That is largely due to primary care physicians not being accessible,” Parker said. “Patients could not make those appointments to either become a (medical marijuana) patient or have their application renewed. They are just now starting to be able to restart those visits.”
Iowa Department of Transportation Drivers License stations, where medical marijuana patients get their registration cards, also were closed, except by appointment, during the outbreak.
Parker said the DOT mailed cards to patients when they could, and the Iowa Department of Public Health worked with the DOT to schedule times for patients to come in for cards. [Read more at Waterloo-Ceder Falls Courier]
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