The Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners has drafted rules to govern how doctors can recommend medical marijuana products to patients for chronic pain, depression, seizures, panic disorder, and other conditions.

The board announced the rules today and will accept public comments until Jan. 4, 2022.

The rules are based on legislation approved in May setting up a medical cannabis program in Alabama.

The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission is still in the early stages of setting up the “seed to sale” program. Medical marijuana products are not expected to be available until 2023.

It will be an intrastate system, with products made in Alabama from cannabis grown in the state by licensed cultivators. Under the legislation, growers can begin applying for licenses in September 2022.

The draft rules released today by the Board of Medical Examiners closely track the legislation on how doctors can qualify to participate in the program. The bill made Alabama the 37th state to approve medical marijuana.

Doctors will be able to recommend cannabis products to treat:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
• Cancer-related cachexia, nausea or vomiting, weight loss, or chronic pain
• Crohn’s Disease
• Depression
• Epilepsy or a condition causing seizures
• HIV/AIDS-related nausea or weight loss
• Panic disorder
• Parkinson’s disease
• Persistent nausea that is not significantly responsive to traditional treatment, except for nausea related to pregnancy, cannabis-induced cyclical vomiting syndrome, or cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Sickle Cell Anemia
• Spasticity associated with a motor neuron disease, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
• Spasticity associated with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) or a spinal cord injury
• A terminal illness
• Tourette’s Syndrome
• A condition causing chronic or intractable pain in which conventional therapeutic intervention and opiate therapy is contraindicated or has proved ineffective

To recommend medical cannabis products, doctors will have to obtain annual permits from the Board of Medical Examiners that will require completion of a four-hour course on medical marijuana and passing a test, among other requirements. Renewal of the permits will require a two-hour refresher course.

Doctors will be prohibited from receiving payments from dispensaries, recommending patients to any specific dispensary, and holding a financial interest in any licensees of the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission.

People can read more about the rules and find out how to submit comments on the Board of Medical Examiners website.