Who is seeking a medical marijuana card in Kentucky? Mainly working adults
As Kentuckians wait for dispensaries to open and medical marijuana sales to begin, many patients are grappling with severe pain, cancer, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder and other chronic conditions that complicate their lives.
It’s those conditions that have brought many before Karen Young, a nurse practitioner offering medical marijuana evaluations to potential card holders through Green Health Docs, a clinic with six locations in Kentucky. Young practices with the clinic’s Lexington location.
“For the most part, everyone is very frustrated that there’s nothing open,” Young recently told the Herald-Leader in an interview, adding that many of her patients see the rollout of the state’s medical marijuana program as “backwards.”
To qualify for a medical marijuana card in Kentucky, or to use medical marijuana under the terms of an executive order from Gov. Andy Beshear, patients need a certification from a health care provider that they have one of the qualifying conditions.
Kentuckians can find a list of authorized providers at kymedcan.ky.gov.
Several businesses, such as Green Health Docs, are catering to meet the demand for certifications since the program’s Jan. 1 launch. Others include Kentucky Cannabis Docs and the Kentucky Medical Marijuana Center.
To get some perspective on the patient experience and whether Kentucky’s medical marijuana program is working for the people it claims to support, the Herald-Leader spoke with Young about what she’s seeing in her practice.
How Kentuckians are using medical marijuana
Given medical marijuana sales haven’t begun in Kentucky, the only remaining legal route is to purchase it out of state under the terms of a 2022 executive order issued by Gov. Andy Beshear.
That order allows patients to purchase small amounts of marijuana in jurisdictions where it’s legal, provided they have a written certification from their health care provider verifying they have at least one of 21 qualifying medical conditions. Patients must also be able to show a receipt of the purchase, and the amount purchased can’t be more than 8 ounces, under the executive order’s terms.
In Young’s experience, many Kentucky patients often choose to drive to Ohio or as far away as Michigan to purchase medical marijuana in those states.
Who are Kentucky’s medical marijuana patients?
While it may surprise some, most of the patients Young sees are working-age adults holding down jobs. Older adults make up the minority of her patients.
“They’re very functional people,” Young said. “Everyone, pretty much, except for the older population, holds jobs and they work, and it’s just to help them after work.”
These are people who’ve worked in construction for most of their lives or have had other physically demanding jobs, Young said. Others have epilepsy, cancer or PTSD, Young said. One common thread through many of the patients Young sees is chronic pain.
Patients have tried many treatment routes and conventionally prescribed medications, but for one reason or another, they aren’t seeing the results they want.
“They’re sick of being on pain medicine,” Young said, adding many of her patients are fed up with the grogginess and fog those medications can cause.
Others who have insomnia due to their chronic pain report better sleep after taking medical marijuana products before bed.
“That’s where I get a lot of satisfaction out of it,” Young said. “They can get a good night’s sleep.”
Is Kentucky’s medical marijuana program working for patients?
As of July 8, more than 16,000 Kentuckians have received written certifications from their health care providers verifying they have a qualifying condition to use medical marijuana. A smaller number — 11,504 — have received medical cannabis cards, according to figures from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
From where Young sits, those numbers will likely increase once medical marijuana sales do eventually begin, as many industry insiders are planning for later this year.
“So many people just want to get off their drugs,” she said.
“They’re put on medicines that they don’t particularly tolerate. They have side effects. They just want something more natural.”
Are you a Kentucky medical cannabis card holder or applicant? We’d like to talk to you about your experience. Fill out the form below or email ask@herald-leader.com.