If you haven’t heard the news yet, you might be thrilled to know that the patient limits imposed on qualified medical providers (QMPs) have been raised again for 2024. QMPs can now recommend medical cannabis to a total number of patients equal to 1.5% of the number of medical cannabis card holders in the state.
We ran the math. The new limits mean a QMP can recommend medical cannabis to more than 1,200 patients. That is twice the original limit first imposed years ago. And from our perspective, that’s good for medical cannabis patients.
How We Got Here
Before discussing how higher QMP limits benefit patients, it is probably a good idea to discuss how we got to where we are today. It all started with Utah voters passing Proposition 2 – a.k.a. the Utah Medical Cannabis Act – in November 2018. Passage of Proposition 2 did not mean instant access to medical cannabis in the Beehive State.
Instead, the state legislature was tasked with the responsibility of taking the proposition’s language and turning it into a viable regulatory scheme. They spent the next year doing that. Finally, medical cannabis in Utah was launched in January 2020. Back then, QMPs could recommend medical cannabis to no more than six hundred patients.
Preventing Card Mills
Lawmakers imposed the 600-patient limit in an earnest desire to prevent creative entrepreneurs from setting up card mills across the state. By limiting patient counts to no more than six hundred, lawmakers ensured that QMPs offered additional medical services. They had to in order to stay in business.
Unfortunately, the 600-patient limit had a prohibitive effect when combined with the fact that there were not initially enough QMPs to serve the entire state population. Lawmakers eventually increased patient counts. They did so during both the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions.
What It Means for Patients
Increasing patient counts certainly helps QMPs and their clinics. More patients translate into more revenue. But patients benefit as well. Think of it this way: increasing patient counts opens up more slots, as it were. This makes it easier for patients to find QMPs willing to work with them when their own healthcare providers will not.
Under state law, a licensed medical provider with prescribing authority in Utah can recommend medical cannabis to up to fifteen patients without becoming a QMP. The law considers these individuals limited healthcare providers (LMPs) for the purposes of assisting patients looking to access medical cannabis. But not every medical provider in the state is willing to provide that assistance.
A Help to Rural Patients
As you probably know, Utah is a largely rural state. There are large swathes of the state completely devoid of sizable towns or cities. People living in these areas have been most impacted by limited access to medical providers. In theory, higher patient counts should help these people by giving them access to more providers who can help.
The local doctor may have already reached his 15-patient limit. But maybe there is another doctor within a decent driving distance who is licensed as a QMP. That doctor could provide services to more than 1,200 local residents. It is a big deal.
A lot of things within the Utah medical cannabis program have changed over the last four years. For the most part, our program has gotten progressively better. Lawmakers and regulators have listened to what patients have to say. They have responded positively in most situations. For that, we are grateful. Lawmakers have made it possible for you to purchase medical cannabis and Beehive Farmacy to sell it.
