[HappyGardener23]

I think that there must be a misunderstanding here about how medical cannabis programs work. First, nobody is paying for anyone's medical use. Insurance does not cover it at any level. You can't even pay by check or credit card because of federal laws. Cash only. Additionally, many of the strains available for medical use are high CBD, low THC strains which means that there is no "stoned" to be had. Higher THC strains are often used at night by people who are plagued by insomnia due to pain, nausea, or directly caused by their condition. People looking for medical relief want to have a higher quality of life, not be out of it. Additionally, even with legal medical use, there may still be problems with employment as referenced above; your may have a card for legal use but you can still be fired by your employer if you test "dirty" or get your license yanked by a state licensing board because there have been no "rules" put in place around this.

As for physicians, it has not been my experience that they are jumping up and down to sign letters allowing patients with qualifying conditions to participate in the program. In fact, many hospitals initially refused to let their physicians sign letters for anyone for any reason because of concerns about licensure and liability. The pilot plan was in place in our state for 3 years before there were even dispensaries allowed to open, Then they had almost nothing to sell because all of the hoops to jump through and restrictions around allowing the plants to be manufactured into product and transported to the dispensaries (all production must remain in-state because the product cannot cross state lines). Then, it took a long time for people to get cards to be able to use the dispensaries, and they needed to be able to be fingerprinted, seen face-to-face by a doctor, have background checks, and provide passport photos, as well as pay hundreds of dollars to the process. As you can imagine, these hurdles alone preclude many people who are physically impaired/financially compromised from participating in legal programs.

As mentioned, it is also really expensive. I personally have no experience with ever buying and using cannabis recreationally, but from what I am told, the cost is comparable if not less than the dispensaries (although the dispensaries offer regulated quality with tested potency and a far greater variety of strain and "type" of product). Regardless of being allowed to legally use for medical reasons, selling is still illegal. I do not think that the average medical user was just waiting for the right moment to have access to a supply so that they could fulfill their dream of becoming a drug dealer (especially one barely breaking even because of the cost of the supply).

Lastly, with respect to people qualifying inappropriately/unethically. These are the approved conditions in Illinois. I imagine they'd be tough to fake, especially since doctors are supposed to have a history with their patients of three contacts minimum and trying other means before even signing a latter just to say that a patient has one of these qualifying conditions:
Agitation of Alzheimer’s disease
HIV/AIDS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Arnold-Chiari malformation
Cancer
Causalgia
Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy
Crohn’s disease
CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome Type II)
Dystonia
Fibrous Dysplasia
Glaucoma
Hepatitis C
Hydrocephalus
Hydromyelia
Interstitial cystitis
Lupus
Multiple Sclerosis
Muscular Dystrophy
Myasthenia Gravis
Myoclonus
Nail-patella syndrome
Neurofibromatosis
Parkinson’s disease
Post-Concussion Syndrome
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Residual limb pain
Rheumatoid arthritis
Seizures (including those characteristic of Epilepsy)
Severe fibromyalgia
Sjogren’s syndrome
Spinal cord disease (including but not limited to arachnoiditis)
Spinal cord injury is damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity
Spinocerebellar ataxia
Syringomyelia
Tarlov cysts
Tourette syndrome
Traumatic brain injury
Cachexia/wasting syndrome

Additionally, I think that it is AWESOME that you would be willing to financially support access for those who really need it. I know when my dad was in the hospital/rehab centers for months this past year, suffering with major complications from his ALS and I was trying to deal with the massive red tape around all of this, I could have used any help. Watching him waste away, suffer with pain, immobility, and constant nausea it was very frustrating to wait months for his medical card to arrive and all we could do was wait and watch. Providing him with anything illegally would have put us in jeopardy for "elder abuse" if he was urine tested, but the second he got his card, we could just add his cannabis drops/pills to the list of meds that they gave him daily like it was nothing (and he does not get high).

ETA: I agree that the amount that patients are allowed to purchase is crazy. Nobody can afford or needs those quantities. The doctors do not give any advice about strain, method of use, frequency, or quantity which is a big problem in the system. They literally just say that you qualify for the program, but that's it. It's like your doctor writing you a prescription for "pain medication" and then you get to go to the drug store and decide which prescription pain med to use, what dose, and how often. It makes no sense. And the only people to guide/advise you at the dispensaries are the people selling it to you, so there is obviously a conflict of interests there. The burden is on the patient to learn about the different strains, how their symptoms respond, and what/when/how much to medicate (but NOBODY is going to need 2.5 oz/2 weeks).