New York state lawmakers voted to legalize marijuana for medical use in 2014, and Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law last June. The new law just took effect on January 6 – but it hasn’t made it any easier for sick New Yorkers to get high. Advocates for the palliative use of marijuana contend that New York’s law is far too narrow.
While medical marijuana has become increasingly mainstream over the past decade, Keith Stroup, a DC-based attorney and founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said there’s still a lingering suspicion by some lawmakers that patients just want to use the drug recreationally.
New York wields considerable influence over national policy, and Stroup thinks the new law could be bad news for patients in states that have yet to legalize medical marijuana. Stroup said he expects states in the Midwest and South to follow New York’s model by outlawing edibles and smoking when they eventually pass their own medical pot laws. The New York Department of Health, which oversees the state’s medical marijuana program, did not provide responses to questions sent by VICE News.
Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, pointed out that the majority of data on the palliative effects of marijuana comes from examining the effects of smoking dried buds, rather than consuming it in the forms allowed under New York’s law.
In a letter sent to the New York state legislature, New York Physicians for Compassionate Care – a group that represents more than 650 doctors who support medical marijuana – stressed that numerous scientific studies have shown that smoking cannabis is generally safe and can be beneficial in some cases.
Only licensed physicians whose expertise includes the conditions listed earlier can prescribe medical marijuana in New York. The tight restrictions are worrying for Daniel, a 27-year-old from New York’s capital Albany who asked that his last name be withheld for medical privacy reasons.
He hasn’t used marijuana in over three years, but now wants to explore the possibilities offered by the new law – he’s just worried that he doesn’t look or seem sufficiently sick enough to warrant a prescription.
New York’s law also only allows for 20 dispensaries in the entire state – one every 2,700 square miles. While New York’s law is restrictive, medical marijuana advocates still see it as a positive move.
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