How to Get a Medical Marijuana Card and do I need one?

Hello again, this is George from Kushlocator.com here to offer some insight on Medical Marijuana Cards and the differences between them.
First, let me start by stating that there is a difference in Medical Marijuana Cards. Just because someone issues you a card, whether it be laminated or a piece of paper, does not necessarily validate your Medical Marijuana Patient status. You, as a patient must do your due diligence when it comes to this.


Second, there is a difference between a State issued Medical Marijuana ID Card and a Doctor’s recommendation Card which sometimes is referred to as a Medical Marijuana Card as well. Let’s be clear about this, a State Issued Medical Marijuana ID Card is obtained by the Counties Department of Public Health. You can contact them directly and schedule an appointment. Depending on your county, the fees will vary. If you are seeking a Valid Doctors Recommendation (Incorrectly referred to as a Medical Marijuana Card), then you can obtain these through dozens, if not hundreds, of licensed physicians throughout the Legal States. Both methods will work and are valid for obtaining Legal Medical Marijuana from a Legal Dispensary.


Differences: The differences between these two methods are that the State issued ID’s act similar to Drivers License or State Identification Card. They have a magnetic strip and if you are pulled over by law enforcement, they can verify the card on site whereas if you only posses a Doctor’s recommendation sheet or Card, the officer cannot and most likely will not go through the process of calling your Physician to verify the legitimacy of your Doctors issued recommendation. If you are in possession of a State Issued ID during a detainment and are following the rules concerning Medical Marijuana, you will most likely be released once your ID is verified. If you are in possession of the Doctors issued ID or recommendation and not a valid State issued ID then you are at the mercy of the Law Enforcement Agent which means that he or she can let you go or confiscate your Legal Medicine at their discretion. The burden of proof would then be placed upon you as the patient and you would then have go to court and provide the proper documentation to recover your confiscated medicine.


Here is an example of what a State Issued Department of Public Health Identification card should look like:

Here is an example of a Physicians issued Recommendation Card Looks Like:

You’ll notice an obvious difference between the two cards although to the untrained eye this is often mistaken for a Valid State issued ID. It has become more common for doctors to issue their recommendations on cards with their logos and often a photo of the patient as well. This does not change the requirements. The legal dispensary receiving these patients must still verify that the recommendation is valid as well as verify that the Doctor which issued the ID has a valid Medical License. The same applies if the Patient has a State Issued Medical Marijuana Card. These cards must also be verified for validation through the State website.


For Patients: They must also do their part as well. For your safety, you can also check that your issuing Physician has a valid medical license before paying a substantial fee for the recommendation. If the physicians license is not valid or it has been suspended you will not be granted access to dispensaries or be able to obtain your medicine legally. You can check the validity of your physicians licensing at the links provided below.


As an example, below is the California State Medical Boards Link. You will be required to provide your Physicians name and Medical License number. Please refer to the state in which you reside:


http://www.medbd.ca.gov/lookup.html

In some Cases you will have an Osteopathic Physician which can be verified here. You will also be required to provide the Name and License number for the referring Physician:


http://www.ombc.ca.gov/consumers/license_ver.shtml



We hope that our information has been helpful. Please feel free to comment on our blog if you have any addition helpful information, comments or questions. Cheers.


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