Medical cannabis in Minnesota is inaccessible and unaffordable, and Minnesota's leadership, to date, is not addressing the root cause of these issues. Our current medical cannabis program is in dire need of change, and we need you to help us achieve measurable change.

General Information – Patient Numbers

As of Friday, March 8, 2019 there were 15,416 patients enrolled in the program.

Over 7,000 patients have dropped their enrollment in the program since the registry began in 2015.

According to the January 2019 Medical Cannabis Program Update, consistently in July 2018 through December 2018, fewer than 11,000 of Minnesota’s nearly 15,000 registered patients made a purchase from a state registered manufacturer.

New York and Pennsylvania legalized medical cannabis shortly after Minnesota, and now each have around 100,000 patients; adjusted for population that is nearly 30,000 and 40,000 patients respectively.

A model like Arizona would create access for over 150,000 patients.

General Information – Cost of Medical Cannabis

In a 2016 report by the Minnesota Department of Health Office of Medical Cannabis, 86% of survey respondents indicated cost was a barrier to access.

Minnesota’s prices are substantially higher than other markets. In Minnesota, a cartridge from Leafline Labs, costs $73, (18¢ per mg.). Minnesota Medical Solutions sells their cartridges, with only 250 milligrams of THC for $59, or (24¢ per mg.). The price of comparable products in Illinois, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon range from 6¢ to 9¢ per mg.

2019 Recommendations

Sensible Change Minnesota makes the following urgent recommendations to the Minnesota Senate for improving access and affordability to medical cannabis in Minnesota:

Remove statutory limitations for cancer and terminal illness patients;

Add chronic pain as a qualifying condition;

Add “any condition for which an opiate could otherwise be prescribed” as a qualifying condition; and

Allow vaporization of raw cannabis as a delivery method.

By removing statutory limitations on cancer and terminal illness, health care providers and patients can work together to determine whether medical cannabis is an appropriate treatment for their condition. Further, by adding chronic pain and “any condition for which an opiate could otherwise prescribe” will help reduce opiate use in Minnesota. Opiate overdose deaths and emergency room visits continue to rise in Minnesota amidst an opioid epidemic, with over 400 deaths in Minnesota, half from prescription abuse. A Department of Health survey of early intractable pain patients found that 64% of those who were on opioids when they entered the program were able to reduce their intake or wean off them after six months. Finally, research has shown that medical cannabis is associated with significant reductions in opioid prescribing in both the Medicaid and Medicare Part D populations.

Minnesota is the only state in the country with an active medical cannabis program that statutorily prohibits the use of plant material, raw cannabis. As a result, Minnesota’s medical cannabis products cost 2-4 times equivalent products in other states. States that followed our model, like Pennsylvania and Florida, added raw cannabis material. Just this month, republicans in Florida voted to add smoking raw cannabis to their program, an initiative that passed the Florida House 101-11. Our colleagues in Pennsylvania indicate the cost to patients for medical cannabis dropped over 50% when raw cannabis was added as an allowable delivery method.

Kyle Kingsley, M.D., CEO of Vireo Health, the parent company to Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of Minnesota’s two registered medical cannabis manufacturers, published an op-ed this past fall indicating that he saw only one realistic policy path toward making cannabis-based medicines more affordable, the use of regulated and safety-tested cannabis flower. State that Minnesota is now the only state among the 30 with viable medical cannabis laws that does not allow plant material of some type to be utilized directly by patients.

Given the above considerations, the undersigned support the changes to the medical cannabis program recommended by Sensible Change Minnesota in this 2019 legislative year. Further, we believe that far more changes are needed, and request that Minnesota's lawmakers spend time over the summer of 2019 meeting with and talking to patients and begin to meaningfully address the barriers medical cannabis patients face.