New push to expand medical marijuana in NY
A series of new bills would make significant changes to New York's medical marijuana program as the state faces criticism for various barriers to patient access.
The legislation introduced this week by Sen. Diane Savino, D-Staten Island, and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, would allow nurse practitioners and physician assistants to certify patients that can use the drug, while adding Alzheimer's and a handful of other conditions to the list of those eligible for treatment.
If approved, the number of medical marijuana dispensaries would be doubled, from 20 to 40. Another bill would create a 15-member advisory committee to help decide appeals from marijuana-seeking patients who have been denied.
Under current state law, only physicians who have received state-approved training are eligible to certify patients for the drug. So far, few doctors have elected to participate: As of late last month, only 421 of the state's roughly 90,000 doctors took the training.
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