More medical marijuana patients expected as pandemic restrictions ease

DES MOINES — Iowa averaged 360 patients per month in its medical marijuana program between June of 2019 and this March.The number dropped to 244 a month after Governor Reynolds asked people to stay home to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Owen Parker oversees the office of medical CBD and says the restrictions have caused issues for those who sought to get the medical approval for the program.  “Many general practitioners were not necessarily seeing patients and a lot of physicians were kind of diverted to emergency services or emergency standby and due to that we heard many reports of patients consultations getting canceled or rescheduled until a later date,” Parker says.

He says the problems with seeing a doctor are starting to ease. “Iowa has started to relax some of those restrictions and many of the patients have now have been able to schedule those consultations and get in to see their providers so we will really see that lull kind of rebound over the next couple of months,” according to Parker.

Parker says many DOT driver’s license stations, where participants get their ID cards, were closed. He says the DOT did accommodate though by mailing the cards when they could.