Many of you have been coming to us lately, frustrated that dispensaries are refusing your medical marijuana card before the expiry date. We wanted to take a moment to explain how the expiration date works in Pennsylvania and how you can avoid running into problems purchasing from dispensaries.
The date that you come in to visit with one of our doctors and receive your certification is considered your certification date. While it seems easy enough, that’s not going to be the same date that’s on your medical marijuana card.
Once your appointment with us is over, we file your appointment date and the information we gathered with the state. From that point, they process the application for your medical marijuana certification and mail you out a card.
Sometimes that process can take up to 4 weeks. That means there’s almost a full month gap between your certification date and receiving an active card.
When you receive your medical marijuana card, it will have an expiry date printed on it.
Relying on the card’s expiry date is the problem at most dispensaries. The state will reject your card if one of the dates has already passed. So while your card might look to be active it no longer is.
For example: If you come in to visit us on June 1st, you might expect to receive your card by July 1st. Meaning your certification date is June 1st and your expiry date might be July 24th (depending on when the state processed your card). However, your first expiry is June 1st (the date you saw us) and you will not be able to use your card after that no matter what the expiry date on it says.
So what do you do if you can’t remember your certification date? You can access it via the patient portal for the state. Simply log in to the department of health website and in your profile settings, you can find the date your recommendation expires.
That’s your real expiry date, so make sure to renew about 4 weeks before that date arrives to avoid any disruption in service.
Hopefully, many of you are navigating your certifications easily. If we can offer any assistance, don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our friendly patient care coordinators.
If you’re looking for a medical marijuana certification or renewal, call us at PA 1-888-399-0329 | DE 1-877-676-6165.
