There are more than forty qualifying conditions for medicinal cannabis in Illinois, but according to the annual progress report from the Illinois Department of Public Health (DPH), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the one that patients most commonly treat with medical marijuana.
The report states that there were approximately 20,584 applications filed between July 1, 2017, and June 30, 2018, and the DPH issued more than 18,000 new registry identification cards during the 2018 fiscal year, including 112 patients under the age of eighteen.
Governor Bruce Rauner signed HB4870 in August, allowing school-aged cannabis patients to have their medicine administered to them at school or on the bus.
“As of June 30, 2018, IIDPH approved applications for approximately 40,000 qualifying patients (including 274 persons under 18 years of age) since the Medical Cannabis Registry Program began accepting applications on September 2, 2014,” states the report.
An update posted on October 3, 2018, showed that the DPH had approved 46,018 patients to use medical marijuana.
But of all the conditions that people use medicinal cannabis for in the state of Illinois, PTSD topped the report’s list with 4,151 qualifying applications received by the DPH, doubling from the previous year. Severe fibromyalgia was second with 3,408 eligible patients, and cancer was the third most common use with 2,526.
PTSD was added to the state’s list of qualifying conditions in 2016.
