How to Get a Medical Marijuana Card in CA

Cannabis in California is legal for both medical and recreational use. In recent decades, the state has been at the forefront of efforts to reform cannabis laws, beginning in 1972 with the nation’s first ballot initiative attempting to legalize cannabis. California was the first state to establish a medical cannabis program, enacted by Proposition 215 in 1996 and Senate Bill 420 in 2003. Proposition 215, also known as the Compassionate Use Act allows people the right to obtain and use cannabis for any illness if they obtain a recommendation from a doctor.

Recreational usage of marijuana is legal under Proposition 64. Immediately upon certification of the November 2016 ballot results, adults age 21 or older were allowed to:

• Possess, transport, process, purchase, obtain, or give away, without any compensation whatsoever, no more than one ounce of dry cannabis or eight grams concentrated cannabis to adults the age of 21 or older.
• Possess, plant, cultivate, harvest, dry, or process no more than six live plants and the produce of those plants in a private residence, in a locked area not seen from normal view, in compliance with all local ordinances.
• Smoke or ingest cannabis.
• Possess, transport, purchase, obtain, use, manufacture, or give away marijuana paraphernalia to peoples the age of 21 or older.

Users may not:

• Smoke it where tobacco is prohibited.
• Possess, ingest or smoke within 1,000 feet of a day care, school, or youth center while children are present (except within a private residence and if said smoke is not detectable to said children).
• Manufacture concentrated cannabis using a volatile solvent without a license under Chapter 3.5 of Division 8 or Division 10 of the Business and Professions Code.
• Possess an open container or marijuana paraphernalia while in the driver or passenger seat of a vehicle used for transportation.
• Smoke or ingest marijuana while operating a vehicle used for transportation.
• Smoke or ingest marijuana while riding in the passenger seat or compartment of a vehicle.

Legal sales for non-medical use are allowed by law beginning January 1, 2018, following formulation of new regulations on the retail market by the state’s Bureau of Medical Cannabis Regulation (to be renamed Bureau of Marijuana Control). Proposition 64 is not meant in any way to affect, amend, or restrict the statutes provided for medical cannabis in California under Proposition 215.

Now that recreational marijuana is legal, do I still need a medical recommendation?

Patients with a doctor’s recommendation can grow or possess larger quantities of marijuana than recreational users. In addition, if you are under 21, you must have a doctor’s recommendation to purchase marijuana, but there are some dispensaries have discontinued sales to patients under 21, even with a recommendation, to fit within recreational dispensary rules. Finally, a county-issued medical marijuana ID card exempts you from tax on marijuana purchases.

How do patients get medical marijuana recommendations?

Doctors do not prescribe marijuana. Federal law specifically prohibits the prescription of Schedule I drugs, including marijuana. Instead, doctors can recommend marijuana for appropriate conditions. Patients who are living with cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief are mentioned in Prop. 215. Physicians have recommended marijuana for numerous other conditions, including insomnia, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and many more.

Most medicinal marijuana recommendations are made by doctors who specialize in evaluating patients for cannabis treatment, rather than the patients’ usual physician. The recommending doctor should review patients’ existing medical records before making a recommendation, including reviewing any other medications the patients are already using.

Caregivers in California

Patients in the registry who require assistance obtaining or using medical cannabis may designate a primary caregiver. A primary caregiver must be at least age 18 and may provide care for a number of patients so long as they reside within the same county. A primary caregiver cannot apply for a Medical Marijuana Identification Card. The patient must apply for the designated caregiver. Caregiver registration is valid for the same duration as the patient’s Medical Marijuana Identification Card. The required fee varies by county.

A primary caregiver is a person who consistently assumes the responsibility for the housing, health or safety of the patient. This may be an individual or the owner, operator or employee of an appropriately licensed clinic, facility, hospice, or home health agency.

Who Can Qualify as a Primary Caregiver?

A prescribed medical marijuana patient can designate anyone they choose as their primary caregiver. However, in order for the designated primary caregiver to qualify for the criminal liability exemption, they must actually provide caregiving services to the patient beyond just the assistance with medical marijuana.

Under California law, a designated primary caregiver must “consistently assume responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of the patient.” California courts have interpreted this to require that a designated primary caregiver:

1. Consistently provide caregiving;
2. The person you care for is legally entitled to the use of medical marijuana; and
3. You meet the legal definition of a primary caregiver under the CUA.

What are the Requirements for a Primary Caregiver?

A Under the California Medical Marijuana Plan, the marijuana primary caregiver is able to put in an application for an ID card and allow the primary caregiver to avoid arrest due to possession, cultivation and transporting of marijuana.

The cannabis patient also would need to have an ID card under the same state plan. In the state of California, the law does not require the marijuana caregiver to fill out any special documents for claiming the status of primary caregiver.

It is important to check with your county or city codes or ordinances to make sure that there are no strict requirements. Also, some states do not allow persons who have been previously convicted of a felony drug offense to become a primary caregiver.

Possession and Cultivation Limits in CA

Possession/Use Limits: Adults over the age of 21 may possess a combination of the following:

• Twenty-eight and a half (28.5) grams of usable marijuana
• Eight (8) grams of cannabis concentrate

Adults may also participate in California’s home cultivation program. Adults without a valid qualifying physician’s recommendation are allowed to grow a maximum of 6 plants, regardless of maturity level.

Under MAUCRSA, medical cannabis patients and their caregivers can possess and transport up to eight ounces (8 oz.), or 226.8 grams, of dried cannabis or concentrates and up to six mature plants or 12 immature plants. Adult users may possess and transport no more than one ounce (1 oz), or 28.5 grams, of dried cannabis and eight grams (8 g) of cannabis concentrates. Legal consumers can carry cannabis in their vehicles, but it must be in a sealed container or in the trunk.

Adults may transfer or gift up to one ounce (1 oz), or 28.5 grams, of dried cannabis and eight grams (8 g) of cannabis concentrates to another adult 21 years of age or older.

Grow Limits: Under AUMA, California residents are able to possess and cultivate up to 6 living marijuana plants. Additionally, only 6 plants are allowed per residence at a given time. Medical marijuana patients and their primary caregivers may cultivate up to six (6) living cannabis plants, local ordinances allowing. With the recommendation of a physician, medical marijuana patients may be permitted to grow a greater amount per the patient’s needs.

Marijuana plants must be kept in a locked space that is not visible to the public, and any marijuana product resulting from the plant that exceeds 28.5 grams (g) must be kept secure within the private residence of the grower.