Medical cannabis now for sale in flower form in Minnesota

Patricia Gates from Shoreview uses cannabis for chronic pain.  She has used cannabis in the form of tablets or oils before, but a change in Minnesota law means that cannabis flower is now legal.

“This is going to save me $400 or more a month.  I see this as a huge blessing,” said Gates.

A spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Health says flower cannabis is more affordable and that she expects more patients to join the state’s program.

“It’s just more affordable, which has been the main barrier of the program.  Other states have added the flower and have doubled and tripled the number of patients,” said Chris Tholkes with MDH.

“The flower is the natural place where the plant produces its medicine. The easiest treatment plan is to take the natural or unprocessed flower and vaporize it or smoke it and there’s very rapid symptom control as medicine,” said Dr. Kyle Kingsley, the CEO of Vireo Health.

Minnesota patients have to be certified by a licensed health care provider to purchase the product for treatment.  It’s used to treat a number of different conditions from chronic pain to cancer. According to MDH, there are more than 30,000 active, approved patients in Minnesota using medical cannabis.