All appointments for cannabis certification are done in our St. Louis Park clinic location.
We are still able to RE-CERTIFY medical cannabis patients via virtual appointments
CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT ZOOM APPOINTMENTS
We provide Medical Cannabis evaluations and certifications in Minnesota
While medical cannabis has not yet become mainstream treatment, and while it is still not legalized on the federal level, we are now able to use it in treatment of some conditions in Minnesota. Many people have had good results. Dr. Mirman of Life Medical realized its benefit and has been on the fore front of legislative effort to legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota from the beginning. Read Dr. Mirman's article in support of medical marijuana in April 2014 edition of Minnesota Medicine Magazine, a publication of Minnesota Medical Association. Listen to an interview about medical marijuana with Dr. Mirman and Tom Barnard on 92 KQRS in the morning. Additional discussions on medical cannabis and hypnotherapy between KQRS noon show (12/06/18) and medical marijuana Q&A on The KQRS Morning Show (01/09/19) - can be heard here.
Dr. Mirman and Dr. Bacaner at Life Medical offer evaluations and certifications for patients who may be eligible for the Minnesota Medical Cannabis Program in Minnesota. If you are looking for a marijuana doctor, we welcome you to contact us. Patients from Duluth to Minneapolis who have searched for a doctor that can prescribe cannabis for treatment, have used our services for qualification and certification in the Minnesota Medical Cannabis Program. We can help certify patients for the medical cannabis program in Minnesota and provide ongoing follow-up care. Please take a moment to help us determine eligibility and your qualifying conditions for use of medical marijuana by answering 8 short questions.
This service is a cash only option (meaning your health care plan will not pay for it, but you can pay with cash or credit card). We feel HSA accounts should cover this service, but you should check for yourself (we would be happy to provide you with a statement that the service is medically necessary in our opinion). The fee to be certified is $250. For patients we originally certified, re-certification (annual) will cost $200. This fee is for the certification process only, not regular medical care or any testing necessary for the certification process, which may be covered by your health care plan. We may also bill your health care plan for the visit, but you will not be responsible for any co-pays or deductibles, as we will apply the certification fee to cover these. Please note that Minnesota Department of Health Office of Medical Cannabis will charge its own processing fees.
US veterans get 10% discount. Veteran status documentation is needed at the time of the appointment.
Dr. Mirman can see you at home for the purpose of certification if necessary.The fee for this service is in addition to the above certification fee. House calls within 10 mile radius of the clinic are $200, and any additional distance is $10 per mile.
Our licensed medical doctors perform evaluations, determine eligibility and certify the patient for the qualifying medical conditions set by the State of Minnesota.The providers at Life Medical do not prescribe, dispense, grow, store or sell medical marijuana. Once the patient has been certified by our doctors, the Minnesota Department of Health Office of Medical Cannabis will do an investigation and approve the patient in accordance with Minnesota law.
Once a patient is approved by the state, they can go to one of the cannabis dispensaries and work with a pharmacist there. The pharmacist will help them figure out the right products and doses.
We offer continued comprehensive care for all patient's conditions, including those qualified for the Medical Cannabis Program. Ongoing follow-up and care for the qualified conditions is required under Minnesota law. This care may be covered by your health care plan. We will need to carry out at least one follow-up several months after the certification visit in order to be able to report your progress to the Minnesota Department of Health Office of Medical Cannabis as required. This visit may be billed to your health care plan. All non-covered co-pays and deductibles incurred for this required follow-up will be covered by the certification fee paid initially. Please call our office at 952-933-8900 if you have any questions about our program before you come for your appointment. If you can't reach our main number, please call directly our cannabis coordinator: 952-994-9052
The Minnesota medical marijuana program is limited to patients with the following conditions:
- Cancer associated with severe/chronic pain, nausea or severe vomiting, or cachexia or severe wasting.
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Glaucoma.
- HIV/AIDS.
- Tourette Syndrome.
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
- Seizures, including those characteristic of Epilepsy.
- Severe and persistent muscle spasms, including those characteristic of Multiple Sclerosis.
- Chronic or Intractable Pain
- Inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease.
- Terminal illness, with a probable life expectancy of less than one year*
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD.
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Sleep Apnea: sleep study required
- Chronic motor or vocal tic disorder
- Sickle cell disease
*To qualify for the program under terminal illness diagnosis, you must suffer from cancer or a terminal illness with a probable life expectancy of under one year, if your illness or its treatment produces one or more of the following: severe or chronic pain; nausea or severe vomiting; or Cachexia or severe wasting.
For more information on Medical Cannabis from the Minnesota Department of Health, including dispensary information, click on the link below:
https://www.health.state.mn.us/people/cannabis/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6135562/
Cannabis has primary benefits and many secondary benefits as well
Dr. Mirman sees many cannabis patients each week who have seen significant improvements in their health as it relates to the qualifying conditions of medical marijuana. An added bonus of treating patients with cannabis is that often they experience some excellent “side benefits” as part of their treatments.
MIRMAN’S CANNABIS SUCCESS STORIES
- One man showed me a photo of himself from 4 years ago. He was fat, suffered from diabetes and looked very depressed. A friend of his in Seattle suggested that he take cannabis which can be used for diabetes in there, although it is not a qualifying condition as yet in Minnesota. He showed me before and after photos and he looked fat and depressed before cannabis and after a year looked chipper and fit. Once he started cannabis he began to feel less depressed which helped him lose weight, which was a huge benefit for his diabetes. So in essence, cannabis helped his depression which helped his eating and his eating helped his diabetes.
- Another male patient who qualified for cannabis due to pain got excellent results for his pain. But he had diabetes as well and a welcome side effect was that the medical marijuana was very beneficial to that disease. He started the process he was taking 90 units of insulin a day and he was also on Metformin with an A1C of 13.5. When he came in a year later to get recertified he was off of Metformin and down to only 16 units of insulin; which equated to an 80% reduction in insulin. His A1C was 6.5. As a third bonus he found that his PTSD had dramatically improved.
- Another male patient qualified for medical marijuana because of back pain, and claims that for him it “is a miracle” because his pain level is down to almost zero. He stopped taking 15 medications including 4 heavy-duty pain medications and some muscle relaxers. As an added unforeseen bonus, he was also able to stop the Prednisone he was taking for his asthma which is almost gone. I’ve had three separate cases so far where patients have had a great improvement from asthma. We are not suggesting using cannabis for diabetes and asthma, as these are not qualifying conditions for medical cannabis in Minnesota. However these side benefits are surely welcome.
- In September 2020 we started posting some interesting results from medical cannabis use here
Note: we received a memo from the Office of Medical Cannabis informing us that the approval process may take up to a month. The office is asking patients not to call them about the delays. Please see the memo here.