New York’s Medical Marijuana Program Might be Influencing the Nation

You may have heard the common phrase “As goes New York, so goes the nation.” As one of the financial capitals of the world, New York has a lot of influence. This may include marijuana laws; therefore, the intense cutthroat cannabis industry that New York has created might just spread throughout the country. Unfortunately, that would make marijuana too expensive to be bought by a regular patient. In January, New York launched its medical marijuana program. However, there have been many concerns that the strict laws and such have made it too difficult for most people to get their hands on the medicine. A newer report from the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) indicated that most of those that are in the program have too many obstacles for anyone to even enter.

Take this for instance: the report states that the strict nature of the Compassionate Care program, which does not allow home growth or inhaled cannabis, has made marijuana products so expensive that almost eighty percent of those approved to use medical marijuana cannot afford it. In order to make things even worse, the DPA continues to suggest that most patients are set to fail even before they set out to hunt medical marijuana because less than one percent of doctors in the state have the opportunity to recommend marijuana to anyone with “severe, debilitating or life-threatening” conditions.

“More than half of patients and caregivers surveyed had not yet found a doctor to certify them, and among those, 3 out of 5 have been waiting for 3 to 4 months to locate a registered physician,” the report states.

However, even if a patient was lucky enough to find a doctor that would be able to recommend them cannabis, and the patient can afford it, it is still difficult to obtain medical marijuana.