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Updated on January 10, 2019. Medical content reviewed by Dr. Richard Koffler, MD, Board Certified Physiatrist
The State of New York passed a piece of marijuana legislation that effectively establishes a state-regulated medical marijuana program. While the measure itself narrows down the amount of qualifying diagnoses or conditions that would qualify a patient for the therapeutic use of cannabis within the state, New York’s program was drafted with careful and strict controls that will operate under very tight regulation and oversight.
Patients who are certified by a licensed healthcare practitioner to use medical marijuana in New York are required to register with the New York State Department of Health and must obtain a New York medical marijuana card, which will serve as a means of identification for the state-sanctioned patient registry.
The passage of this bill makes New York the 23rd state in the country, to set the foundation for a medical marijuana program. “The Compassionate Care Act” outlines a limited list of different debilitating medical conditions, for which marijuana is recommended to be medically beneficial. Before the bill’s passage, state lawmakers narrowed down the list of qualifying conditions that would allow a patient to qualify for the program. Legislators removed glaucoma – citing better pharmaceutical options – and narrowed “arthritis” specifically down to just “rheumatoid arthritis”.
* Please note: In order to become registered as a New York medical marijuana patient, you MUST first possess a document-driven condition that has been clearly outlined by the New York State Department of Health’s list of qualifying conditions (as per the Compassionate Care Act). The New York Health Commissioner must decide whether to add Alzheimer’s, muscular dystrophy, dystonia, PTSD, and rheumatoid arthritis within 18 months of the law’s effective date. The Health Commissioner may add or delete conditions to the list of qualifying ailments, at any time.
Patients in New York diagnosed with one of the following severe, debilitating, or life-threatening medical conditions, are afforded legal protection under New York’s medical marijuana law, as per Assembly Bill 6357:
Patients also suffering from a severe debilitating or life-threatening condition or any of the following conditions where it is clinically associated with a complication of a condition under this paragraph or its treatment:
Effective March 22, 2017 Chronic Pain has been approved by Health Commissioner, Dr. Howard A. Zucker – any severe debilitating pain that the practitioner determines degrades health and functional capability, that has intolerable side effects, that has lasted for or is expected to last for at least three months, and other modes of therapy that has failed to treat or that cannot be treated by another therapy because it would be harmful.”
Effective March 22, 2017 Chronic Pain has been approved by Health Commissioner, Dr. Howard A. Zucker – any severe debilitating pain that the practitioner determines degrades health and functional capability, that has intolerable side effects, that has lasted for or is expected to last for at least three months, and other modes of therapy that has failed to treat or that cannot be treated by another therapy because it would be harmful.”
Effective June 2018, a regulatory amendment issued by the NY State Department of Health added Opioid use as a qualifying condition. In July 2018, this was expanded and any condition for which an Opioid could be prescribed now qualifies for medical marijuana due to emergency regulations issues by the NY State Department of Health.
After receiving a medical marijuana recommendation, patients have to register with the DOH. Patients can designate up to two caregivers, who must also register with the DOH. Medical marijuana registrations expire when the recommendation expires.
Some medical marijuana patients will claim they have a doctor’s prescription for medical marijuana, but marijuana prescriptions are in fact illegal. The federal government classifies marijuana as a schedule I drug. Therefore doctors are unable to prescribe marijuana to their patients, and medical marijuana patients cannot go to a pharmacy to fill a prescription for medical marijuana. Instead, medical marijuana physicians will supply patients with a medical marijuana recommendation in compliance with state law.
Unlike other medical marijuana states, New York medical marijuana law does not allow for the cultivation of medical cannabis. Patients may only purchase a limited amount, no more than a 30-day supply, of medical marijuana at one of the following state-monitored cannabis dispensaries: Bloomfield Industries Inc; Columbia Care NY LLC; Etain, LLC; PharmaCann LLC; Vireo Health of New York LLC (formerly Empire State Health Solutions).
In August 2017, the NY state medical marijuana program was expanded to license five new companies to grow and distribute medical marijuana. It also introduced new legislation that would make it easier for medical marijuana patients to get more information about products by allowing them to consult with representatives from registered organizations (ROs) about available non-smokable products. This legislation,k which would also increase the amount of non-smokable products these organizations were allowed to distribute and manufacture, was passed and will go into effect December 2017.
In October 2017, the state of NY made it possible for facilities like hospitals and nursing homes to register as “caregivers” in order to increase patients’ access to medical marijuana. The current legislation made it nearly impossible for facility-bound patients without caregivers to pick up their medical marijuana without a delivery service. Now the facilities can ensure that patients with debilitating illnesses have access to the treatments they need.
Refer back to Marijuana Doctors to keep track of updates to the medical marijuana program.
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