We have heard from patients who are sick that the medical card process is cumbersome and long.
By Ross Williams, Georgia Recorder
Leslie Johns, his mother and full-time caregiver, says that Darrell Johns weighed only 40 pounds at 13 and suffered from five seizures per week.
She said, “I had to crush 17 pills per day to put through his G tube and he still had seizures.” “And the Diastat (Valium) that I had to give him in a crisis, it would make sleep for days, because he was tiny and made him so groggy.”
Johns says that Darrell, 21, who his family calls Peanut, is now doing better. He began taking medical marijuana in 2015, and has not had a seizure since.
Johns stated that Darrell, a child born with hydrocephalus, seizures and other conditions, was able to speak his first words soon after beginning the treatment.
“He and my daughter were in the living-room. Then I heard “Mama.” I asked, “What, Brianna?” And then I heard, again, “Mama.” I turned around to ask, “What, Brianna?” Well, Brianna had fallen asleep. Peanut said ‘Mama’ and I sat down on the kitchen floor. He got down. He can’t walk but he uses his bottom to scoot. My husband heard him scoot to the kitchen and he came out. He asked, “Peanut, what is that?” He turned to him and said, “Mama.” From there, it was all history. I cried for days.”
Johns reported that Darrell has lost 100 pounds and is now able to speak 10 to 15 sentences. He also said that he only experiences seizures every two or three month. Johns has to give Darrell only two pills a day, so the young man can relax and enjoy his favorite activities, such as riding in his dad’s sidecar, or watching “The Price is Right,” Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy.
Johns and others say that recent glitches are causing problems in Georgia with regards to obtaining or renewing medical marijuana cards.
Georgia’s first legal dispensaries have opened this year after years of courtroom battles and legislative back and forth. State law allows for products with a low level of THC (the chemical that makes marijuana users high).
Patients must be diagnosed as having one of the serious conditions listed and have their licenses renewed every two years. Johns filed for her renewal in April, before the June expiration date. However, despite numerous calls to the Georgia Department of Public Health, and Darrell’s doctor’s cooperation, she still hasn’t received the card.
Johns’s spouse also has a card for one of Darrell’s caregivers. She is grateful that the renewal was successful, as Darrell does not have to be without. However, it has been an inconvenient situation and stressful.
She said, “It’s frustrating because my husband is working and he has to stop his work to go to the pharmacy when I could do it myself since I am with Darrel 24 hours a day.” It’s just inconvenient for Tim to have to add this to the list of things he has to do throughout the day.
Johns told the Georgia Recorder that she received a phone call after the Department of Public Health was contacted for comment. She was informed her card would arrive in Macon on Tuesday.
Steve Vancore is a spokesperson for Trulieve Medical Cannabis, one of Georgia’s medical cannabis companies. He said that there are many cases like this.
He said that he had heard from patients who were very sick about the long and difficult process to get a medical card. Not only did they experience delays, but they also had to drive to an appointment, which made it even harder. The Department of Public Health has been working to improve the system, and we think that they also recognize the challenges that these patients face.
The Georgia Department of Public Health’s Nancy Nydam, a spokeswoman said that the department has recently hired more workers to handle its call volume. She said it spiked at about 1,000 calls a week a few months ago but now settles to around 200 calls.
The number of patients registered in the late July registry was 29,494, up from 27,000 in early April.
Nydam stated that as of early August there were 558 cards waiting for approval. Some of these are new applications which have not been processed, but the majority of them involve problems with documents or application.
She said, “For instance, if someone didn’t submit a copy, we would have to contact them and ask for it.” She said that sometimes information is not correct, such as a different address listed on a driver’s licence and the one shown in their place of residence. We will call them, but it may take several days to get through.
The department also began daily shipping of cards to the local health departments, where patients could pick them up.
She said that, “They used to send cards once or twice per week. Now, they do it every day, except on Fridays. Health departments must be open for the package to arrive.” This reduces the time it takes between the printing of a card and its arrival at the local health department. We have also added pick up locations–previously we had 18 counties around the state where cards could be picked up. “We now have 42 locations.”
Vancore praised DPH for its efforts, but said that other states had more streamlined processes.
He said: “As you may know, Trulieve provides services to patients in eight different states. These states offer a range of options for patients to obtain their identification cards, including the use of the postal service or downloading their cards through a secure website.” “We applaud the DPH for allowing patients to see a Georgia doctor via telehealth. We believe this is a positive thing. And we hope that remote accommodations can be made throughout, such as allowing an ‘opt-in’ process to allow cards to be sent directly to patients.”
This article was originally published by Georgia Recorder.
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The article Georgia Medical Marijuana Regulations Hire More Workers to Deal with Patient Demand first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
