There’s a quiet shift happening in how Americans access healthcare, and medical cannabis is one of the most evident examples of this trend. Over the past few years, telehealth has gone from a pandemic backup plan to something millions of people prefer now. And if you look at how patients obtain their medical marijuana cards today compared to five years ago, it reveals just how dramatic that transformation has been.

How Telehealth Became a Permanent Alternative

When COVID-19 hit, everything moved online fast, including doctor visits. According to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, telehealth visits jumped 154% in March 2020 as compared to the same week in 2019. That’s a massive spike in a very short time.

But here’s the more interesting part. As restrictions eased and life normalized, many analysts expected patients to return to in-person care. But the data tells a different story. A 2025 study published by the NIH’s National Library of Medicine found that around 12% of Americans used telehealth services consistently through 2021, 2022, and 2023. Pre-pandemic, that number was barely noticeable, but what started as a necessity turned into routine.

How Telehealth and Medical Cannabis Evaluations Are Linked

As telehealth became normalized, so did the idea of completing a medical cannabis evaluation online. And the patient numbers reflect that shift. Over the past several years, millions of patients have registered for medical cannabis programs across the states.

As of 2026, 39 states and Washington D.C., have active medical cannabis programs, and the majority now permit telemedicine evaluations under frameworks aligned with existing state telehealth regulations. The shift has been significant for patient access, particularly for individuals managing chronic pain, PTSD, anxiety, and other qualifying conditions who may have limited mobility or live far from a certifying physician.

A big part of that growth comes down to access. Before online evaluations were widely available, getting certified meant finding a specialized clinic, taking time off, and dealing with a process that honestly felt more complicated than it needed to be. Virtual evaluations changed that.

According to insights from My MMJ Doctor, one of the leading telehealth platforms for cannabis evaluations, the platform has seen online evaluation requests grow from around 3,600 to approximately 7,000 between 2020 and 2024, an increase of 94% that reflects exactly what the national data is showing.

How Telehealth Is Changing Patient Behavior

Telehealth isn’t just changing the way healthcare is delivered, but it’s also changing how people approach healthcare altogether. When access becomes easier, faster, and more flexible, people are more likely to seek care than to delay it.

You can see this shift in who’s using telehealth. Older adults have become some of the most active users, especially those managing ongoing health conditions or dealing with mobility challenges. Being able to speak with a doctor from home removes a major barrier. 

For younger adults, on the other hand, the motivation looks a bit different. It’s less about necessity and more about convenience. For millennials and Gen Z, booking a virtual consultation feels completely normal. That level of comfort with digital tools is helping push overall telehealth usage higher.

In the case of medical cannabis, all of this adds up. Patients who may have delayed or avoided the process in the past are now more willing to go through it when it feels simple and accessible. Over time, this shift in behavior is playing a major role in the rising number of evaluations across the country.

It’s Not Just About Convenience

It’s easy to look at this and say, “People just like doing things from home.” And sure, that’s part of it. But a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found that telehealth use varies significantly based on socioeconomic factors, with patients in underserved or disadvantaged communities often relying more on virtual care due to limited access to in-person providers.

“We’re seeing more patients from areas where access to in-person providers has always been limited,” says Gourav Sharma, founder of My MMJ Doctor. “For many of them, telehealth isn’t just easier, it’s the only realistic way to get evaluated.”

So this isn’t just a convenience story. Telehealth is genuinely bringing people into medical cannabis programs who couldn’t access them before. Patients in rural areas, people with limited mobility, and those who couldn’t take time off for in-person appointments are all benefiting from it, and that’s a meaningful shift.

Where Things Are Headed

Telehealth is no longer a temporary solution. In fact, it’s becoming a permanent way of delivering healthcare, including within medical cannabis programs. Federal regulators, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), have continued to expand telemedicine flexibility, while most states that introduced temporary policies during the pandemic have since made them permanent. As a result, virtual evaluations are now a standard part of access across most state cannabis programs.

Taken together, the data from federal health agencies, peer-reviewed research, and real-world platform insights all point in the same direction that telehealth hasn’t just made medical cannabis evaluations more convenient, but it has fundamentally expanded who can access them. For patients who once faced geographic, physical, or logistical barriers, that shift is more than just digital transformation. This meaningful access to care has opened doors for patients that didn’t exist before.