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How to Get Your Medical Marijuana Prescription

Posted by The Marijuana News Staff in April 23rd, 2009

Posted in: Medical Marijuana Tags: medical cannabis doctors, medical marijauna recommendation, medical marijuana doctors, medical marijuana perscription

With 12 states and counting passing laws legalizing medical marijuana, more and more patients are able to obtain this medicine without breaking the law. There are an increasing number of studies concluding that cannabis has properties in it that help all sorts of conditions, from nausea and PMS to anxiety and arthritis. This is a very exciting time for the research, and more people will continue to be informed of its medicinal properties.
The process of obtaining a medical marijuana prescription from a doctor is fairly streamlined, no matter what state you live in. The only difference per state is the actual law wording that allows patients to have the medicine. Check the law in your state to see specifics—this is an important step.
What you want to do is make sure the condition you have is one that is acceptable in your state for a medical marijuana prescription. These do differ per state. For example, California allows patients with anxiety to obtain medical marijuana, but Oregon does not. In Oregon, anxiety is not considered a condition that can be helped by this particular treatment.
Once you’ve checked on your particular condition or illness, you’ll want to make an appointment to see either your doctor and ask for medical marijuana, or you can go to a medical marijuana clinic where there are doctors that specialize in this particular practice.
The decision is yours—you can go to your doctor first and ask if he or she recommends medical marijuana for your condition. Your doctor may try to prescribe you something else for it or may disagree. If so, all hope is not lost. Ask for your medical history and try to see another doctor.
When searching for a doctor that specializes in medical marijuana recommendations, you’ll often be looking for a clinic that has “holistic” or “wellness” or “alternative medicine” in the title. You can always call and ask if there are any doctors that specialize in medical marijuana. More and more of these are popping up in the states that have medical legalization laws.
If you end up seeing a doctor that is not your normal physician, you’ll want to bring your medical history with you. This will show the doctor that you have the condition you’re attesting to, and the doctor will then be able to recommend medical marijuana to you. Again, make sure the condition you have is one that’s acceptable for a recommendation in your state. Check your state medical cannabis laws.
The term “medical marijuana prescription” is actually a misnomer—it is illegal by federal law for a doctor to “prescribe” marijuana. This is why most state laws say that a doctor’s “recommendation” is necessary to be able to carry medical marijuana legally. All the doctor is doing then is saying that yes, he recommends that medical marijuana can help you. And no federal laws are broken.
Once you’ve obtained a medical cannabis recommendation from your doctor or another doctor (any doctor will do), you can then legally obtain marijuana from a dispensary, or grow your own plants. There are limits in every state for how much marijuana you are legally able to have at one time, so inform yourself of these laws. You’re allowed to grow a certain number of plants at one time, or buy a particular amount for an allotted period at a medical marijuana dispensary.
Some states, like California, have taken the medical marijuana prescription (actually recommendation) even further and created a medical marijuana card. This card registers you with your particular county and provides an extra layer of protection, if you do happen to be caught by a police officer with marijuana on you. The card tells them even more than the recommendation paper that you are legally allowed to have medical marijuana and will prevent them from trying to take it away from you and cart you off to jail.
If you are treated unfairly or have a situation where your medicine was taken from you unnecessarily, it’s best to contact a lawyer that specializes in medical marijuana cases. Like the doctors, more of these people are popping up in the states legalizing medical cannabis as well. Don’t let your rights be taken away from you.

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