Just under 5,000 patients and more than 600 physicians registered for New York’s medical marijuana program, according to the state’s Department of Health two-year report on the Compassionate Care Act.
New patient registration has been climbing steadily since the program went live late in December 2015. In January 2016, 476 new patients registered in New York’s medical marijuana program. That number peaked in March, when 1,162 new patients added their name to the registry. Since then, an average of over 1,000 patients joined the program every month.
The report highlights the program’s activities and provides recommendations to the governor and the state legislature on how to improve the program. Those recommendations include calls for allowing nurse practitioners to prescribe medical marijuana to patients with qualifying conditions, studying the feasibility of a home delivery service, and increasing the number of producers from five to 10, all of which could increase New York’s medical marijuana market size.
Another interesting recommendation has to do with increasing the number of strains – or as the report calls them, brands – licensed producers are allowed to grow. Currently, licensees can only grow five brands, one of which must have a high CBD and low THC content and another which must have equal CBD and THC concentrations.
Read the full report here.
