Applying to receive medical marijuana as a patient can be a confusing process, especially for people who are sick, says pharmacist Mark Mandel.

In an effort to mitigate the problems patients might face in submitting applications for the Illinois Medical Cannabis Card, Mandel and pharmacist Joseph Friedman hosted an event Saturday to help patients apply for the card.

Medical professionals were on-site to answer patients' questions, help them fill out applications and provide fingerprinting and shoot passport photographs, which are both required pieces of the application.

The pair plan to open Buffalo Grove's first medical marijuana dispensary in November and want to make sure patients are getting the help they need.

Back in May we reported the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board’s recommendation to include eleven additional chronic and debilitating conditions to the Department of Public Health’s approved list of qualifying conditions under Illinois’ Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act. The Board’s recommendation paved the way for the Department of Public Health Director to add his stamp of approval. Then, after rule making, the conditions would fully be a part of the Act. In May, we were hopeful for the sake of both patients and industry participants that the new conditions would pass muster and the Rauner administration would sign off.

Concerns over the medical marijuana industry aren’t just heating up in Detroit.

Across 8 Mile in neighboring Warren, Mayor Jim Fouts is proposing registration requirements along with other regulations to govern where medical marijuana can be grown, how it can be transported, and controls on odors.

His proposal is prompted, the mayor said, by concerns about growing medical marijuana in residential areas.

Fouts said his proposal “goes much beyond what the state Legislature is doing” and would “control the whole aspect of medical marijuana growing in the neighborhoods.”

Lombard native Dan Scheidt opened his first medical marijuana dispensary eight years ago in Boulder, Colorado.

At that time, his business was one of only five in the city of 150,000. In the next eight years, the number of dispensaries would grow to 54 in the city, forcing Scheidt to close his first business. He was most recently working as the manager of another dispensary in Boulder when his father sent him a newspaper article about a medical marijuana business opening closer to his hometown.

At the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday, 45,000 runners received a surprise in their official participation kits next to their water and protein bars: an informational pamphlet from one of the race’s sponsors promoting medical marijuana in Illinois.

The educational insert came from the state’s largest legal medical cultivator Cresco Labs, who says this is the first time a mainstream athletic event in the United States has included sponsorship from a medical marijuana group.

MORE Illinois State Senate passes bill decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana, making possession of up to 15 grams a civil law violation without jail time; bill is awaiting signature of Republican Gov Bruce Rauner. A state activist has filed the explanation for a medical marijuana initiative with the state attorney general’s office. Marijuana Legalization … There, he spends his time and becomes friends with many other delinquents. Marijuana is the most popular and easily accessible illegal drug in the United States today.

An advisory board voted Wednesday to add eight health conditions — including chronic pain syndrome, autism, osteoarthritis and post-traumatic stress disorder — to the list of illnesses that can be treated by medical marijuana in Illinois.

The state's Medical Cannabis Advisory Board had expressed frustration last month when Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration rejected its first 11 suggestions for expanding the list of medical conditions. Osteoarthritis and PTSD were on that earlier list, so Wednesday's votes reaffirmed the board's viewpoint and put the matter back in Rauner's hands.

Illinois is launching a pilot program for medical marijuana use in the state. According to a study conducted by the Midwestern state, the most common medical-grade weed seekers in the state are older women.

Alaska

Qualifying conditions to become a medical marijuana patient in Alaska include:

• Cancer
• Glaucoma
• HIV/AIDS
• Cachexia (wasting syndrome)
• Nausea
• Muscle spasms
• Multiple sclerosis
• Pain
• Seizures

For a complete list of qualifying conditions and guidelines, please refer to Alaska’s application for medical marijuana registry

Arizona

Qualifying conditions to become a medical marijuana patient in Arizona include:

BARRY, Ill., Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Many of Illinois' medical marijuana cultivation centers are harvesting their first medicinal marijuana crop this weekend.

The 75,000-square-foot cultivation center in Barry, Illinois -- the biggest in the state -- is already preparing its first shipment to patients. The center is one of two owned and managed by Revolution Enterprises.

"The capabilities, technologically, scientifically, within these facilities is unheard of in the industry," Tim McGraw, CEO of Revolution Enterprises, told reporters.