Hospitals, nursing homes and residences for disabled New Yorkers are among facilities that could obtain medical marijuana for their patients and residents under emergency regulations issued a week ago by the state Health Department.
The facilities would be deemed “caregivers” under the state medical marijuana program. New York’s strict rules permit medical cannabis to be acquired only by patients certified as eligible for the program or their designated caregivers.
STATE BY STATE: New York Cannabis News
The emergency regulations, which went into effect on a temporary basis on Oct. 5, are the latest effort to make the medications accessible to more New Yorkers. Since medical cannabis became available for sale to New Yorkers early last year, the five companies registered to produce and sell the products have faced challenges in finding enough regular customers to be profitable.
New Yorkers qualify to use medical marijuana if they have one of 11 debilitating or life-threatening conditions. There are 32,000 patients certified to use the drug, according to the state Health Department. Earlier this year, data showed that roughly half of all patients registered for the program were repeat buyers.
