Wednesday is the first day patients may apply for a medical marijuana card and businesses may apply for licenses in the state of Mississippi.

Applications will be accepted online for all services, facilities and individuals regulated by the Mississippi State Department of Health, including:

• Individuals: patients and medical practitioners
• Facilities: cannabis cultivation, processing and testing
• Services: cannabis transportation and waste disposal

Once the application process begins, there will be a 30-day approval time for licensure applications, and a five-day approval time for program patients. All applications will go through the Mississippi State Health Department and require a physician’s approval.

Patients who want to participate in the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program hinges must have at least one of the following medical conditions:

• cancer
• Parkinson’s disease
• Huntington’s disease
• muscular dystrophy
• glaucoma
• spastic quadriplegia
• positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
• acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
• hepatitis
• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
• Crohn’s disease
• ulcerative colitis
• sickle-cell anemia
• Alzheimer’s disease
• agitation of dementia
• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• autism
• pain refractory to appropriate opioid management
• diabetic/peripheral neuropathy
• spinal cord disease or severe injury

Also qualifying are chronic terminal or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces one or more of the following:

• cachexia or wasting syndrome
• chronic pain
• severe or intractable nausea
• seizures
• severe and persistent muscle spasms including, but not limited to, those characteristic of multiple sclerosi

For more details on applying for a medical marijuana card, visit the Mississippi State Health Department’s website at https://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/30,0,425.html