Crackdown on medical cannabis education and promotion harms patients

Week after week, thousands of new patients enroll in Missouri’s fast-growing medical marijuana program. Less than a year since the start of retail sales, nearly 150,000 Missourians with cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma and 20 other qualifying conditions can now safely purchase their medicine at any of the more than 150 dispensaries approved to operate so far.

What those patients can’t now do — thanks to a vague, overly broad and confusing rule interpretation recently announced by the state Department of Health and Senior Services — is access complete information related to the manufacture, quality, safety, contents, application and pricing of medical cannabis products in Missouri.

The department’s ban on “promotional events” may be rooted in the best of intentions, but its prohibition on “any activity, advertisement or publicity designed to increase interest in purchasing medical marijuana or a particular product or brand” is an unduly restrictive burden.

Many medical cannabis patients, including those we both treat at our St. Louis practices, as well as across the state, are on fixed incomes. It’s imperative that they know which dispensaries carry their preferred products and how much those products cost so that they can locate, budget and shop accordingly. Dispensaries offer promotional pricing to help patients afford their medicine and use these opportunities to educate and inform patients.

State regulators routinely refer to the importance of patient education in an arena in which many program participants may still be unfamiliar. The ability to discuss the direct-to-patient benefits allowed by dispensary education events cannot be realized if these patients are unaware of the cannabis retail outlet’s available pricing programs and products.