The New Mexico Department of Health will add insomnia to the list of qualifying conditions for enrollment in the department’s medical cannabis program June 1.

The announcement was made at the MCP’s Medical Advisory Board meeting May 16. A petition requesting insomnia be added as a qualifying condition was submitted for consideration at the board’s March 7 meeting, when the board members voted unanimously to support the recommendation.

“Even though patients may access cannabis without a medical cannabis card through the adult use program, by including insomnia in the list of qualifying conditions, patients would have increased opportunity to discuss with their medical provider how cannabis can be used to impact their insomnia and help them sleep better,” Department of Health Secretary Patrick Allen said.

Insomnia is the 30th qualifying condition for the medical cannabis program. Anxiety disorder was recently added as a condition in December.

According to the National Institutes of Health, one in three adults have insomnia symptoms worldwide. Around 10% are diagnosed with insomnia.

“The consequences of insomnia are significant, such as depression, impaired work performance, work-related/motor vehicle accidents, and overall poor quality of life. It is an easy-to-diagnose condition with many self-answerable questionnaires for aid, yet goes unrecognized in a significant number of patients coming to the outpatient department with other comorbid conditions,” it says in a study done by the National Library of Medicine.

Many conditions like obesity and liver disease cause insomnia in patients as well.

Currently, people suffering from PTSD use the program the most in New Mexico with more than 55,000 enrolled. There are 101,119 people enrolled in the program. Around 7,500 of those people are from Sandoval County.

The medical cannabis program was created under the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act. The purpose of the act is to allow the use of medical cannabis in a regulated system for alleviating symptoms caused by debilitating medical conditions and their medical treatments. The New Mexico Department of Health administers the program in accordance with the act.

“From a health equity perspective, medical cannabis can offer a legal alternative to the expensive medications sometimes utilized by those suffering with insomnia,” Allen added.

The full documents outlining the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board’s recommendation as well as the Secretary of Health’s decision can be found online in the Announcements section of nmhealth.org/about/mcp/svcs/.

Information about the medical cannabis program, including information for health providers, patients and caregivers, can be found on the NMDOH website, nmhealth.org/.