Advocates are asking the state health commissioner to add chronic pain to the list of qualifying conditions for medical cannabis. Gunnar Aas, president of the group Sensible Minnesota, says Minnesota’s medical cannabis program is too restrictive to allow access to everyone who would benefit. He says some veterans, for example, have had “ten plus years of suffering with horrible, horrible pain — and we can do better.”
Intractable pain is currently a qualifying condition for medical cannabis. Advocates say in medical practice “chronic pain” is virtually the same thing, and adding it to the list would make doctors feel more comfortable to certify patients who would benefit from medical cannabis.