Adding chronic pain and anxiety to the list of qualifying conditions has done more than any other change by Gov. Phil Murphy to expand New Jersey's medicinal marijuana program, according to health department data.
Of the roughly 11,000 patients who have joined since the beginning of the Murphy Administration, 7,700 have one of the new conditions added on March 26, state Health Department spokeswoman Donna Leusner said. Some patients have more than one qualifying condition.
Put another way, one-third of 26,000 registered medical marijuana users in New Jersey qualified for the program because of chronic pain or anxiety.
The Murphy administration on Monday called for six more alternative treatment centers after the Legislature failed to pass a medical marijuana expansion.
Chronic musculoskeletal pain (fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus, for instance) and chronic pain of visceral origin (think irritable bowel syndrome and endometriosis, among others) accounted for 47 percent and 6 percent, respectively, of the new cases, Leusner said.
Anxiety accounted for another 40 percent of the newly qualifying patients, she said.