Colorado adds PTSD to medical marijuana qualifying conditions

Colorado medical marijuana dispensaries soon could experience an uptick in sales now that the state has made post-traumatic stress disorder a qualifying condition.

Under the measure – which the governor signed into law Monday – military veterans and other patients with a physician’s recommendation will be permitted to buy medical cannabis for PTSD, the Denver Post reported.

Sales could begin as early as next week, depending on how long it takes the state’s information technology office to prepare the forms, according to the newspaper.

The inclusion of the illness among Colorado’s qualifying conditions has been a point of contention – especially among the veterans community. Advocacy groups have argued veterans could jeopardize their military benefits by using marijuana, which remains illegal at the federal level.

PTSD is the first qualifying condition Colorado has added since the state’s MMJ law went into effect in 2001, the Post reported.

Colorado joins 18 other states that list PTSD among their qualifying conditions for MMJ treatment, according to the Marijuana Business Factbook 2017.