Minnesota to Allow Chronic Pain Patients to Use Medical Marijuana

Minnesota health officials say they will allow residents with chronic pain to buy medical marijuana starting in August.

Minnesota will be the 19th state where medical marijuana is legal to extend the drug to people with intractable pain — defined in state law as pain that can’t otherwise be treated or cured. Only five of the 24 states don’t include severe, chronic or intractable pain as a qualifying condition.

Department of Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger said in a statement that it was a “tough choice,” but “given the strong medical focus of Minnesota’s medical cannabis program and the compelling testimony of hundreds of Minnesotans, it became clear that the right and compassionate choice was to add intractable pain to the program’s list of qualifying conditions.”

Minnesota’s highly restricted program has struggled with low enrollment and high drug costs for patients. As of early December, 760 patients were registered for the program, which was approved in 2014 and started selling the drug July 1. The change in the program is expected to increase enrollment substantially.

The decision to included chronic pain goes against a recommendation from a panel of medical experts that Ehlinger himself assembled for advice. They cited the potential for drug abuse and a lack of solid medical evidence about medical marijuana’s efficacy in treating pain.

When the Legislature approved medical marijuana, it told Ehlinger that he must to decide whether to add intractable pain as a qualifying condition before considering other disorders.

Lawmakers could vote to reverse the commissioner’s decision this spring, but both the House and Senate would have to vote the addition down.