No Quick Decision on Medical Marijuana for Pain

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Minnesota residents suffering chronic pain won't be able to get medical marijuana until summer 2016 at the earliest.

Supporters of medical marijuana had once hoped to add chronic pain to the eligible conditions as early as this summer. State lawmakers had given Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger up to two years to decide whether to expand the program to chronic pain patients.

But state officials said this week they will wait to make that decision partly due to concern that it could overextend manufacturers as they rush to launch the program this summer.

The state's timeline for making a decision was updated this week on the Health Department's website and confirmed by The Associated Press.

There's no assurance that chronic pain will ever be a legal reason to use medical marijuana.