CT doctors want expansion of medical cannabis conditions

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A panel of physicians in Connecticut are urging the state to add four more conditions to the list of ailments that will qualify patients to receive medical cannabis.

If the State Board of Physicians’ recommendations are accepted by the Department of Consumer Protection and a committee of state lawmakers, then shingles, rheumatoid arthritis, muscular dystrophy and fibromyalgia will be added to the MMJ qualifying condition list, the Hartford Courant reported.

However, the panel declined to endorse the addition of eczema, osteoarthritis and emphysema to the MMJ list.

Connecticut’s condition list already contains 22 ailments, and there are currently over 15,000 registered patients being served by six dispensaries (with three more slated to open in coming months).

But expansion of the list could mean even further growth for a state program that has surged forward in recent years, with 590-plus physicians currently authorized to recommend medicinal cannabis to upwards of 15,000 qualifying patients, a state official told the Courant.

It could, however, take up to a year for the latest additions to go fully into effect, the newspaper reported.