A state-selected board of doctors have unanimously voted to add two more ailments to the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana in Connecticut. Earlier in the year, the board voted to add five new qualifying conditions, including fibromyalgia, muscular dystrophy, and rheumatoid arthritis. At this month's meeting, the board voted to add two more conditions, “intractable headache syndrome” and “neuropathic facial pain.”

Intractable headache syndrome covers any kind of chronic headaches that cannot be fully prevented by a medical treatment or procedure. Neuropathic facial pain is also an umbrella term that can cover a number of medical conditions affecting the face. Board members voted to include these conditions as a replacement for the specific conditions of migraines and trigeminal neuralgia, so that “people aren’t excluded because their specific condition is not listed” in the medical marijuana statute.

All seven of the new conditions recommended by the board have been approved by the commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection. However, the conditions must also be approved by the state legislature's regulation review committee before they become legal.

Connecticut currently allows 22 conditions to qualify for the legal use of medical cannabis, including cancer, epilepsy, and cystic fibrosis. The state has 19,117 patients who are registered to use medical cannabis, a number that is certain to expand if these new conditions are approved.