Sun Sentinel Broward Edition

How to get medical marijuana

- By Dan Sweeney Staff writer

Only certain ailments qualify. Doctors, visits and the amount of medicine are highly regulated.

Looking for medical marijuana in South Florida? Here’s what you need to know:

South Florida’s fourth medical marijuana dispensary opened Tuesday in Lake Worth. The three others are in Miami-Dade County.

Patients must have a qualifying ailment to receive marijuana. Those include cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, PTSD, ALS, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or “other debilitati­ng medical conditions of the same kind or class,” per the amendment’s language.

To find a local doctor, go to Floridahea­lth.gov or call the Florida Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use at 850-245-4657.

Once approved, the patient is entered into the state’s medical marijuana registry and then must apply for a medical marijuana card. That can take months.

Patients can receive a 70-day supply at a time. After that, they must get a new recommenda­tion, which can be phoned in. After 30 weeks, patients must once again see their doctor in person.

Insurance cannot cover any part of the process.

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