Illinois Could Get To Treat Its Migraines With Medical Weed Soon
By Mae Rice in News on Jul 22, 2016 3:11PM
Are Illinois residents allowed to treat their migraines with legal weed? The short answer is no, but the long answer is more promising: A judge recently overturned the Illinois Department of Public Health decision that migraines didn't make you eligible for the state medical marijuana program, the Tribune reports.
Judge Rita Novak, a Cook County circuit court judge, made the ruling after a suit from an unnamed man who already treats his regular, otherwise-untreatable migraines with marijuana. Though the weed isn't a cure-all, "he finds the pain less severe and believes the headaches are less frequent when he's using it," the man's attorney told the courtroom, the Trib reports.
Illinois Department of Public Health head Dr. Nirav Shah must now re-review evidence in favor of treating migraines with weed, presented to him by the state's Medical Cannabis Advisory Board. He could once again decide migraines don't make you eligible for sweet dispensary weed, but if he reverses his previous decision, it would substantially mainstream marijuana in the state. Migraines are very common, affecting about 29.5M people in the U.S., or roughly 9 percent of the country.
Right now, medical marijuana is legal in Illinois, but only to treat a strictly limited list of conditions. That list has been expanding, though, due to a barrage of lawsuits, including one that led to a June verdict that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had to be added to the list of eligible conditions. All terminal illness now constitutes an eligible condition, too, as detailed on the website for the State of Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program.
The following conditions could be added to the list of allowable ones. pending a decision from Dr. Shah:
Anorexia Nervosa, Chronic Post Operative Pain, Ehelers-Danlos , Migraine, Neuro-Bahcets Autoimmune Disease, Diabetic Neuropathy, Peripheral Neuropathy, Osteoarthritis, Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome... and Polycystic Kidney Disease.
The Tribune reports that there are also cases pending that could add irritable bowel syndrome, intractable pain and autism to the eligible conditions list. Read the Tribune's full story here.