Why ‘Medical Card’ and ‘Plant-Based Medicine’ Are Trending Terms
As a content creator, I have been following and writing on medical cannabis for years. In recent months, I have noticed two new terms trending in the medical cannabis community: ‘medical card’ and ‘plant-based medicine’. I am an intensely curious person, so I’ve done some research to try to figure out why these terms are trending.
As best as I can tell, it boils down to two things: legal restrictions on marketing and public perception. As the medical cannabis community has evolved, industry players have had to adapt their language to account for certain influences. What they have done is no different than what any other industry does at a time when words can be so problematic for so many people.
What the Terms Really Mean
Before getting into marketing restrictions and public perception, let us talk about what the terms really mean. Bear in mind that what you read applies only to the medical cannabis industry. These two terms have other uses outside of medical cannabis.
With that out of the way, here you go:
- Medical Card – A medical card is actually a medical cannabis card. It is a card issued by a state regulatory agency, a card that gives the holder legal permission to purchase, possess, and consume medical cannabis.
- Plant-Based Medicine – The plant-based medicines in question are all derived from cannabis. You are essentially looking at medical cannabis vapes, gummies, tinctures, lotions, etc.
Put it all together and this is what you get: if a clinic offers assistance in obtaining a state medical card for access to plant-based medicines, that clinic is offering to help you get your medical cannabis card. With card in hand, you can purchase medical cannabis at a local dispensary or pharmacy.
Marketing Restrictions
Now let’s get to the two reasons the medical cannabis industry uses these new terms. The first is related to marketing restrictions. In Utah, healthcare clinics offering medical card services are restricted in terms of the language they use. They need to be careful about what they say on their websites, in their email communications, in print ads, and so on. They are not allowed to mention medical cannabis outright. They also aren’t allowed to discuss dispensaries and medical cannabis pharmacies.
KindlyMD, an organization that runs multiple clinics throughout Utah, makes use of the terms ‘medical card’ and ‘plant-based medicine’ to let patients know what they do without using the offending terms. Adopting the new terms is a way to follow the law and still get the word out about their services.
Public Perception
Despite growing acceptance of cannabis within American culture, there are still people who feel uneasy about promoting medical cannabis as a business or industry. They are people who genuinely believe in the altruistic nature of healthcare. When medical cannabis is promoted as a business or industry, it makes them somewhat uncomfortable.
Industry players know this. They also know that making consumers uncomfortable is a quick and easy way to start losing their support. And as long as cannabis remains a controlled substance under federal law, the industry does not want to lose any of that support. Adopting the new terms reduces the chances of making people feel uneasy about the medical cannabis industry.
Personally, I don’t care one way or the other. Everyone who needs to know probably knows what the two terms refer to. As long as that’s the case, both the industry and medical cannabis patients win. On the other hand, it is just unfortunate that so many people are so offended by certain words that we have to rewrite the vocabulary.