Michigan patients seeking medical marijuana cards still need to meet in-person with a doctor, despite the threat of transmitting the novel coronavirus. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted physicians across the globe to switch to telehealth appointments, but Michigan doctors providing medical cannabis certifications cannot legally do so, according to Andrew Brisbo, executive director of the state’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency.

Michigan’s medical marijuana law specifies that a physician must certify a patient for a card allowing the purchase of medical marijuana, and that approval must happen in-person, demonstrating a “bona fide physician-patient relationship.”