Illinois to take new suggestions for marijuana disease list

Illinois residents who want to add specific diseases to the state’s medical marijuana pilot program have another chance to submit their suggestions during July.

The Illinois Department of Public Health will accept petitions starting Wednesday and continuing through the month. Instructions will be posted on the program’s website Wednesday. An advisory board will review the petitions and hold a public hearing.

The medical marijuana program allows people to suggest new diseases for the program twice annually, in January and July.

In May, the advisory board recommended 11 conditions including migraine, osteoarthritis and post-traumatic stress disorder, but those conditions are not yet official.

The director of the health department is expected to decide on them by the beginning of August. After that, rulemaking could take several months.