It’s easy to fall in love and it’s hard to come to terms with the fact that you’re falling out of love, especially when it comes to your favorite dispensary or personal caregiver.
Times change, and if you’ve been with the same caregiver since legalization, odds are, you haven’t experienced everything you deserve. A personal caregiver should be there for you, and if they’re not, it’s time to move on. Here’s how to determine whether or not you’re ready for a breakup, and what all that includes:
Is It Time?
The cool thing about all of the legal and medical states is that there are caregivers pretty much everywhere across Colorado since caregivers like to help people. Life is way too short to spend time with a caregiver that you’re not happy with. The first thing you need to do is evaluate your current caregiver. If you’ve already suggested some changes between you and your primary caregiver, there’s not much else you can do, especially if the changes you’ve asked to see are getting completely ignored. Here are some signs that you need to break up with your primary caregiver:
- The quality of the cannabis your caregiver is growing or purchasing for you has been slowly on the decline for quite some time now.
- It appears sometimes that your caregiver is bending the state regulatory rules sometimes and growing more plants than you are allowed to have
- You don’t really click with the person
- The person isn’t always reliable, and you don’t always have your cannabis when you need it
- You’re tired of the runaround and the struggle and you want to find someone else to be your personal caregiver.
FAQ
Before getting into the meat of the process of switching your primary caregiver, it’s important to understand what’s happening around you. Some people don’t fully understand what the process involves or how to switch their primary caregiver, so here is a short, sweet, and to the point summary of the primary caregivers and how you can use them.
A primary caregiver is a person who will have significant responsibility for managing your personal wellbeing. This can mean anything from shopping for your bud to growing your bud, all the way to administering your cannabis. If you’re a medical marijuana cardholder, you are eligible to designate a primary caregiver. If you’re working on getting your red card, you will have the chance to delegate a primary caregiver as part of the application process for your medicinal marijuana card. Choose someone you trust, since the caregiver will have a ton of responsibility for YOUR well being while you use medical marijuana.
There are no specific set-in-stone requirements for someone to be your primary caregiver, including no prior medical knowledge. Caregivers must be at least aged 18 or older.
You are also NOT required to designate a primary caregiver if you choose not to, however, if you do select a caregiver, you can not list yourself or your doctor.
As we mentioned, a caregiver must be designated while you apply for your medical marijuana card. However, if you’re looking to change your primary caregiver, you can submit a change of Address or Caregiver form to the Colorado Health Department’s Medical Marijuana Registry. If you’d like to see this form and print it out to change your primary caregiver, click here.
The Breakup
How-to’s work best when they come from personal experiences. The fact is that I recently renewed my red card and decided that I was going to change who I originally had designated as my primary caregiver. It was an ex-boyfriend, and I didn’t want to be tied up with it anymore. I wasn’t too pleased with his attitude. We obviously didn’t click anymore, and after a while, my cannabis started coming later and later. I just didn’t feel like I was welcome anymore and I felt like a burden when I asked for things, so after everything, and all of the reasons, I was ready to make a change and switch to a new primary caregiver.
Lucky for us wonderful Colorado residents, we can change our caregivers and medical dispensary memberships once each and every month. So I got to spend a few weeks shopping around before I was ready to make the switch. I met with several medical caregivers and asked a few of my friends. I asked them some simple interview questions so that I could make sure the person growing my cannabis would do a good job and get my cannabis to me on time. After meeting with people for a short while I settled on a close friend of mine who grows exceptional plants and has really mastered the art of growing marijuana. The quality of his own plants was absolutely stunning, and he kept everything very professional and organized. The switch helped me feel a lot better about everything else that was originally causing me some distress. I was now able to be close to my caregiver, and I was also able to keep an eye on my plants because my new caregiver agreed to keep me posted. I was also comfortable because everything was done by the books, and my cannabis was always delivered on time and on-budget.
Here’s where it got a little tricky, though: I still had to get rid of up with my old primary caregiver before signing over to the new one. Unlike working with dispensaries as caregivers (some dispensaries just have you call the old dispensary and have them terminate your membership), it wasn’t as easy of a process. I was told to fill out a Change of Patient Records form, which must be completed, signed, notarized and returned to the state. The law is that you can only have one primary caregiver at a time, so in order for you to apply for a new one, you must fill out this form and play the waiting game. It really is a quick process, and pretty painless. All the technical stuff will be taken care of by the dispensary you’re choosing to be your dispensary caregiver.
Overall, I’m incredibly satisfied with my new primary caregiver. I don’t think I could’ve made a better choice because I now have everything I need along with some extras that I don’t think I could do without. So if you’re not 110% happy with your current primary caregiver, breaking up with the primary caregiver in question is always ALWAYS an option. If your current primary caregiver isn’t offering you the incentives you deserve or if they’re just flat out not caring for you like they should be, don’t be afraid to make the switch.
So there it is! A comprehensive guide to ensure your break up with your caregiver isn’t as troublesome as the caregiver, itself. If you were wondering how to break up with the dispensary you’ve designated as your primary care center, you should check out my previous article on how to break up with your dispensary. Whether you’re working with a caregiver or a dispensary, you deserve the utmost top-quality care that you deserve.
After all, this is your cannabis! You shouldn’t have to stress out over worrying about whether or not you’re getting treated fairly or getting ripped off. If you’re not happy, walk away! You, the patient, deserve better.
