Your Guide to Medical Cannabis Cards and MedCannID

A medical cannabis card validates your legal patient status and certifies that you use cannabis on a qualified prescription for medical purposes. This can be given as proof to any authorities, including law enforcement, public transport police, and so on. It can also be used in communications with your landlord, estate agent, HR manager, employer, and insurance companies where necessary.

You need to make sure that the card you carry protects you fully, just in case you need it. As it stands at the moment, MedCannID is the only card that carries any legal weighting or recognition for legally prescribed medical cannabis patients, and it’s completely free. Let’s look at some of the MedCannID card benefits more closely.

Why do you need a medical cannabis card?

With the legalisation of medical cannabis in the UK, more and more people are being able to legally access cannabis for a range of different health conditions. In fact, a report from Health Europa estimates that the number of private patients in the UK is around 6,000.

Nonetheless, law enforcement officials are still catching up to legislation. If you’re in possession of medical cannabis in the street or even at home, you need to be able to prove that you obtained the cannabis legally. One way of doing so is through applying for and owning a medical cannabis card.

Why should you choose MedCannID?

Other card providers do not offer the same level of protection that MedCannID does. Should you ever get into issues with law enforcement or other officials, you need to have the best possible security for yourself. Otherwise, you risk facing criminal charges in the worst-case scenario.

In addition, MedCannID offers pre-legal advice and signposts to communications in case of unlawful arrest and confiscation of medications, as well as general legal issues with employment and housing authorities. The organisation recently stated in a report that they have offered legal advice to three of their cardholders, relating to:

• being dismissed from work on the grounds of possession of legal medical cannabis
• being sent home from work after failing a drug test
• being refused permission to fly and go through a domestic airport

These are just a few examples of cases where a medical cannabis card is crucial. Already, people are coming up against completely avoidable incidents where medical cannabis patients have been inappropriately put under pressure, through no fault of their own. In cases like these, having medical cannabis experts a phone call away to have your back can also be a huge help.

The MedCannID card specifies the exact type of medication and the correct amount currently being prescribed to the patient with a direct link to a copy of the dated prescription. This makes sure that anyone who sees your card will instantly know how much and how often you use medical cannabis, which can affect emergency healthcare decisions where necessary.

“We started MedCannID in 2018 when the law changed to allow medical cannabis to be privately prescribed in the UK,” said Marios Pentelli, founder of MedCannID. “At that time it was part of an older access program called ‘A4P’, or Access 4 Patients, which was used to deliver the first medical cannabis prescription to an adult in the UK.

“Even though the law had changed, it was clear [very quickly] that education in regards to this change was needed in order to update all the authorities that were going to be affected and to ensure fair treatment of patients. However, this was completely omitted from any efforts that the government was going to invest in, therefore leaving the legal patient exposed to the same risks as an illicit supply user when it came down to interaction with law enforcement, employers, landlords, and so on.”

How do I use a MedCannID card?

Anyone with a current valid UK cannabis prescription can sign up to receive the medical cannabis ID card to prove their legal patient status. It’s completely free to make it as accessible as possible to a range of people.

The easiest way to sign up is through MedCannID’s app, available on the Android and the Apple App Store soon. From there, you can register your account, add your prescription, and then you will receive your MedCannID card in the post once everything is approved.

The ID card and app work together to provide evidence to prove your legal status, the type of medication being prescribed, and the prescribing clinic’s details. That way, you have both digital and physical evidence of your legal medical cannabis status, to suit your needs as and when it applies.

So far, the MedCannID community has over 1000 members, including slightly more men than women. The average age of MedCannID cardholders is 38, and the majority of people take out a medical cannabis prescription due to chronic pain and psychological conditions.

You can find out more about MedCannID and how to get started with your own card by heading to the MedCannID website, or downloading the app on Android or for Apple devices.