If you qualify, you can get the healing medicine you need in Orange, Calif. But therein lies the question — do you qualify? And where do you find a doctor to provide the paperwork you need?
No worries — we’ll give you all the info you need.
If you have a hard time living your everyday life due to your symptoms, you have a good chance of getting approved for MMJ. You definitely qualify if you have one of the conditions mentioned in California policy, which includes:
No worries if you don’t have one of those diagnoses — your symptoms might make you eligible. If your problems are significantly risky for your well-being or interfere with ADA-defined daily living activities, you could qualify, too. The daily living activities include:
To get a California MMJ license, you need to go to your county’s health department and give them a completed application (English version, Spanish version). For your application to count as complete, you also need to submit a photo ID, proof of residency, the registration fee your county requires and medical documentation.
The most important part of the application is your medical documentation. You must get it from your doctor and ask them to keep a copy in their files so they can verify your eligibility with the state when they process your application. You can use any form of paper authorization from your physician, but using the form provided by the state might make things easier for the both of you (English version, Spanish version).
Starting in 2018, anybody in California will be allowed to purchase marijuana for recreational or medical use. But, getting an MMJ card can still help you by letting you purchase cannabis before the new regulations come into effect and giving you a break on taxes afterward. No matter what decision you make, you can possess up to one ounce of weed in its original form and up to eight grams of concentrated marijuana.
If you came to California from outside of the U.S., be careful when you travel with marijuana. NORML has received reports that government officials have used MMJ and its recommendations as a reason to deport folks under federal law.
We have a list of dispensaries and growing collectives if you need to find a place to purchase your medicine.
As long as you see a doctor who’s down for helping you get MMJ, you can ask them for the documentation you need to sign up. Unfortunately, some doctors don’t see MMJ as a valid kind of medicine due to the stigma surrounding it. We encourage you to use our list of California doctors if you need to find a new physician.
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