HF1818 Summary

• Establishes a medical marijuana program in Minnesota allowing qualifying patients with debilitating medical conditions to possess up to 2.5 ounces of usable marijuana and cultivate up to six plants with proper registration.

• Creates registry identification cards for qualifying patients and designated caregivers, issued by the Commissioner of Health upon submission of written certification from a licensed practitioner, with application fees of $100 ($25 for Social Security disability/Medicare recipients).

• Requires registration and certification of medical marijuana dispensaries and safety compliance facilities, with application fees of $15,000 and $5,000 respectively, and limits dispensary locations to counties with populations over 20,000 and one plant per 300,000-1,000,000 residents (up to three per county over 1,000,000).

• Prohibits medical assistance and MinnesotaCare programs from reimbursing medical marijuana costs; excludes marijuana from the medical assistance drug formulary; and provides criminal penalties for diversion, false statements, and violations (felonies up to 2 years imprisonment and $3,000 fines).

• Appropriates $256,000 for fiscal year 2015 and $48,000 for fiscal year 2016 to implement the program, with implementation deadline of October 1, 2014.