Why Do Medical Cannabis Cards Expire?

In most states with a medical marijuana program, you need an MMJ card to be legally permitted to buy weed from a dispensary. In a handful of locations, you only need a doctor’s recommendation.

Still, if you get a medical cannabis card, you’ll notice that there’s an expiry date on it. If you don’t, it’s perhaps a sign that you’ve overdone it again. It turns out that there are a few reasons why expiration dates are deemed necessary, outside of ‘the man’ putting microchips in the cards that get into your body by jumping through the first cut they see. Let’s find out more about them, shall we? (MMJ Card’s expiration date, that is).

Preventing Abuse of the System

If there’s one thing the authorities hate, it’s abusing the system. Did you see how quickly they reacted when the financial industry went on-tilt and almost destroyed the economy? Why, they leaped into action like a female lion defending her cubs.

Okay, so they didn’t react as quickly as they could have. But boy, did they not slap down those responsible? Oh, they didn’t?

Well, they don’t like it when stoners abuse the system. There’s research outlining the fact that adolescents and young adults are potentially at higher risk for heavy weed use once they’ve acquired MMJ cards.

Also, if there is no expiration date on a card, there is nothing to prevent you from retaining access to medical marijuana forever. In this scenario, the recreational market could likely suffer since people who would typically not bother reapplying for MMJ would continue using it.

Regulatory authorities know that getting patients to renew their cards lets them find out if there is anything untoward happening. With an expiration date on a medical marijuana card, one can say that the integrity of programs remains in place.

In general, a medical cannabis card will expire after a year, although there’s a longer period in place in some states.

Continued Medical Assessment

Part of renewing a medical marijuana card involves completing another doctor’s consultation. You know the drill by now; you go into the office and discuss your medical condition. They will ask a few questions to see if MMJ is helping your condition or making it worse. The doctor will also want to know if you still have the qualifying condition.

This is, of course, a judgment call guided by their vast medical experience. If a patient comes in and says they still have chronic pain, the medical professional must try to figure out if the individual is telling the truth.

It’s also important for the doctor to see whether MMJ has worked. They will reference your medical records over the past year (or for however long your card was valid for) and find out.

By placing an expiration date on an MMJ card, it becomes possible to ensure that patients receive effective and appropriate medical treatment. After all, there’s a possibility that using marijuana regularly could have a detrimental impact on a person’s health. Without your annual assessment, the issue could get out of control in a hurry.

This is particularly the case if you smoke marijuana. Smoking combusted plant matter is never going to be the healthiest thing in the world, no matter what weed lovers say. Yes, it is less bad than smoking tobacco cigarettes, but that’s hardly the most compelling reason.

By the way, a few people who ask, “can I use my medical marijuana card in another state?” should know that the expiration date protects MMJ programs in other locations. In states with reciprocity and no expiration date, you could use weed out-of-state as if you were at home forever. That sounds pretty amazing, but sadly, that isn’t the case. At least you have recreational marijuana in a fair few states!

Last Words on Why Medical Cannabis Cards Expire

So, I can confirm that allowing medical marijuana cards to expire is not part of some plot to control us. In reality, it is a necessary measure to protect MMJ programs and the users themselves. With no expiration dates on cards, you could use the substance regardless of whether it does you any good medically. It would massively increase recreational use.

While that may sound fine and dandy to some people, we should remember that marijuana’s medical potential is the reason why so many people fight so hard for its full legalization. Weed isn’t suitable for everyone, whether you like it or not.