The Georgia Department of Public Health reports the discovery of an excessive number of cannabis patients

The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) announced on September 27 that its previously collected data on the number of medical cannabis patients is actually lower than expected.

The state discovered “anomalies” that inflated its patient and caregiver population, originally estimated at about 50,000 patients. This number still took into account patients whose cards have expired or who have died since 2015. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a more accurate number of 14,000 now reflects the actual number of patients.

DPH spokeswoman Nancy Nydam further explained the reason for the inflated numbers.

“DPH has identified a number of anomalies in the registry data, including patients with duplicate cards, patients who were counted as caregivers, expired cards that were not renewed but remained in the system, and some patients who died.”

The reason this wasn’t discovered sooner is because Georgia opened its first medical cannabis dispensaries this year. Two Trulieve pharmacies opened in late April and a total of six pharmacies are now in operation.

Nydam added that DPH Commissioner Kathleen Toomey has since ordered an audit of the medical cannabis registry.

A quick review of the low THC oil registry requires medical providers to remove patients once they are no longer receiving care or die. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes that reporting on it stopped after 2019 and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and there is no automated system to track the number of patients or caregivers.

Georgia’s medical cannabis program began in 2015 with the Haleigh’s Hope Act. It allowed the use of medical cannabis to treat conditions such as terminal cancer, Lou Gehrig’s disease, seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, mitochondrial disease, Parkinson’s disease and sickle cell disease. However, no protection was created for the patient, particularly by expecting the employer to take medical cannabis use into account.

Patients must obtain medical approval to treat these conditions and may only have access to oil that contains no more than 5% THC. Tickets are just $25 for two years.

Gary Long, CEO of Botanical Sciences and head of one of Georgia’s medical cannabis dispensaries, explained his frustration with the inaccurate numbers. “It is disappointing to find that the information provided by the state is inaccurate,” Long told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Our focus should be on how we move past this in a cohesive way to increase awareness of this industry in our state and the availability of these therapeutic products to patients in need.”

In July, the DPH reported 30,600 active patients, but there are actually only 13,000. The number of carers who can legally obtain cannabis from a patient was estimated at 21,000. The number has now fallen to just 1,200. Additionally, an estimated 3,400 of the 17,600 patients whose cards expired or were canceled have died.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the DPH has made similar errors in data collection regarding COVID-19 numbers. The news outlet noted that the list of children who died from COVID was incomplete and that testing sites did not record accurate race data.

However, cannabis patient numbers have increased in recent months as medical cannabis pharmacies have started operating. However, updated numbers will not be provided by the DPH until the audit is completed.

Andrew Turnage, Georgia Medical Cannabis Access Commission, commented on the increasing number of patients. “The demand for patients in need is certainly there,” said Andrew Turnage, executive director of the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission. “We know there are a significant number of patients in Georgia with the appropriate and applicable diagnosis, but registry growth is slower than expected.”

Going forward, the DPH has already begun to resolve the issue of deceased patients being counted as cardholders. Now the DPH also plans to analyze its data twice a year to remove expired cards, eliminating the need for medical providers to do this.

In August, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that there was a backlog of 558 medical cannabis applications awaiting review. A Georgia mother, Kim Srkiba, is using cannabis to treat her 24-year-old son’s seizures. She told the outlet that she applied for the card in April and didn’t receive approval for more than four months. “I tried to save on it so it would last a long time. We have had a slight increase in seizures, which is terrible,” Skriba explained. “Life with a child or adult with special needs is not easy. When the government makes things harder for you, it just makes the whole situation more difficult and stressful.”

Chris Rustin, DPH’s interim director of health protection, expressed the need to expedite the process at the time. “We needed to make it much more convenient for the public to pick up these cards,” Rustin said. “These improvements will certainly help us improve the process and get these cards out more quickly to the public who need them.”