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Passage of DOH medical cannabis bill eases enrollment and renewal process
The New Mexico Department of Health praises the late-night passage of a medical cannabis bill that would streamline the enrollment process and save qualified patients time and money while reducing administrative burdens for medical providers. The bill now goes to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk where she is expected to sign it into law. The bill would go into effect on June 16, 2023.
Senate Bill 242, sponsored by Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino simplifies the process for qualified patients to maintain eligibility in the medical cannabis program by aligning the medical provider certification, and the patient’s application for enrollment to every two years, rather than the current annual certification and re-enrollment every three years.
“This change saves patients time and money spent obtaining their annual recertification signatures and application from their medical provider,” said Dominick V. Zurlo, Ph.D., Director for the Medical Cannabis Program. “It eliminates the confusion caused by the current process which has different timeframes for annual medical certifications and Medical Cannabis Patient ID Card renewals. This bill allows the two processes to happen at the same time.”
A 2022 Medical Cannabis Program survey of both patients and medical providers indicated the statutory annual recertification and re-enrollment time frames were confusing. With this statutory change, the Medical Cannabis Program will implement a process with a 50% reduction in the required submission of patient certification applications which will result in an estimated cost savings of over $11,000,000 per year for patients.
This change reduces confusion, disruptions, and barriers for patients and providers, while supporting continued care and treatment to ensure the medical use of cannabis remains beneficial for qualified patients.
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