How sick NJ wants you to be before they’ll give you medical marijuana

If you have intractable epilepsy and want to use medical marijuana, you're qualified in pretty much every state in the country for a medical marijuana program. However, chronic pain, autism and irritable bowel disease won't likely get you into the legal marijuana dispensary.

Most states require you to be way sicker than that. Some states make it a breeze with eligible illness lists a mile long — like Illinois', which will includes everything from glaucoma to Tourette's. Other states make it even harder than they do here in Jersey. For instance, Oklahoma allows for the use of CBD oil only. You can't smoke it or ingest any other way. Legally, that is.

On top of that, the diseases Oklahoma includes are ones that almost no one's ever heard of, like Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, Dravet syndrome and Severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy. Not to mention the fact that you've got to be under 18 to be eligible in the Sooner state. Florida has only one eligible illness: Debilitating epileptic conditions.

So I guess, relatively speaking, Garden Staters have it pretty good. If you've ever wondered if your itchy psoriasis or your chronic allergies could snag you a medical marijuana card here in New Jersey, below is a list of the very few illnesses that would qualify you for our very limited and difficult-to-navigate program. Qualifying conditions to become a medical marijuana patient in New Jersey include:

• PTSD (updated as of 9/15/16)
• Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS)
• Multiple sclerosis
• Terminal cancer
• Muscular dystrophy
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBS)
• Crohn’s disease
• Terminal illness if the physician has determined a prognosis of less than 12 months of life
• Seizure disorder, including epilepsy
• Intractable skeletal muscular spasticity
• Glaucoma
• HIV/AIDS
• Cancer

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