BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Right now, only patients with certain chronic illnesses are allowed to use medical marijuana for pain, but lawmakers want to change that. A bill in Albany would expand the list of people allowed to use medical marijuana as an alternative to opioids.
"You know, this bill will help. This bill will help patients," says State Sen. George Amedore.
Episodic pain results from conditions expected to last less than three months. Two Republican Senators from outside of Western New York are co-sponsoring a bill which would add it to the list of conditions eligible for medical marijuana treatment.
"This, we believe, is a great alternative and allows the choice someone of a doctor and a patient to have a remedy of pain to prescribe medical marijuana," said Amedore on Thursday.
Right now, medical marijuana is approved to treat everything from chronic pain to PTSD to Parkinson's disease in New York. The bill's supporters say this addition would allow doctors to avoid prescribing opioids to patients who are at high risk for addiction or are in recovery. And, they say it would help reduce the circulation of addictive opioids in the state.
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