12,300 Iowans Have Registered to Buy Medical Marijuana

(Radio Iowa) New data shows slow but steady growth in the number of Iowans planning to buy products from Iowa’s medical cannabis dispensaries.

About half a percent of Iowans who are 21 years of age or older had a state registration card and could buy medical cannabis products at the five state licensed dispensaries in April. A doctor, P-A or an advanced registered nurse practitioner has to recommend medical marijuana as treatment for an illness. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, nearly 97-hundred patients had state-issued cards in April. That’s a 36 percent increase since May of last year. About 26-hundred Iowa caregivers have registered to buy cannabis products for someone who is too young or too ill to buy it for themselves. That’s a 26 percent increase in caregiver registrations from a year ago.

Some Iowans are driving to Illinois, where businesses opened in 2020 to sell recreational marijuana. Illinois law requires purchasers to be 21 and to consume the marijuana products at an Illinois residence.