It is a good thing that the state decided to implement administration of the Medical Cannabis program online. We all live online these days. So establishing the electronic verification system (EVS) was a no-brainer. That said, the EVS can be confusing. Consider a patient’s EVS status. There are four options that could show up in a patient’s account.
Imagine you just completed your Medical Cannabis Card application and paid your fee. Now you are waiting for your card to arrive via email. You can check your status any time by logging in to your account. Likewise, current patients looking to renew their cards can also check their status.
Here are the four options and what each one means:
The first option is ‘Awaiting State Review’. By law, the state has up to 15 days to review your application and render a decision. Reviews are typically completed in considerably less time, but there aren’t any guarantees. Seeing this status on your account page lets you know that your application is being processed.
If you are concerned that it’s taking too long, you can always check with your QMP’s office to see if they have submitted the required information on their end. If you used an LMP, this particular issue doesn’t apply.
Assuming your application has been processed and approved, your status should say ‘Active’. You should have already received your Medical Cannabis Card via email. If not, check your spam folder. Maybe it got diverted there by mistake.
You can also print a paper copy of your card directly from the EVS. Visit the EVS website with a smartphone and you should be able to view your card as well. If so, you can save a copy to your phone’s internal storage.
A quick word here about the ‘Active’ status and renewals is in order. Let’s say you renew your card a few days before it expires. You check your status and see that it’s still ‘Active’. Great. The state will not issue your new card until the day after your existing card expires.
Make a point of checking in that day after. If you haven’t received your new card via email, check your spam folder. You should be able to see the new card on the EVS page. You can print a paper copy if you like.
Seeing the ‘Incomplete’ status on your account tells you that the DHHS needs more information before they can render a decision. They have either sent you an email or will be doing so shortly. So again, check your spam folder.
What more information would the state need? It’s hard to say. Maybe you made a mistake entering your contact information. Perhaps the information you provided doesn’t exactly match what your QMP provided. Hopefully it’s a minor issue you can correct with little effort.
Unfortunately, some Medical Cannabis Card applications do get denied. There can be a number of reasons for such denials. If that’s the case for you, your status on the EVS will state ‘Denied’. Changing your application to that status should trigger an email explaining what happened. Check your spam folder if you don’t get one.
Card status on the EVS site is designed to help Medical Cannabis patients know where they are with their cards at any given time. It is not a perfect system (no system is) but it does the job. As a Medical Cannabis patient, you can check your own status any time simply by logging in to your EVS account.
