ALBANY, NY — Chronic pain will soon be added to the list of conditions that qualify for medical marijuana in New York.
“Medical marijuana is already helping thousands of patients across New York State, and adding chronic pain as a qualifying condition will help more patients and further strengthen the program,” New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard A. Zucker said in a statement Thursday. “After conducting a thorough review of the scientific literature, it became clear that there may be certain benefits in the use of medical marijuana by patients suffering from chronic pain.”
The New York State Department of Health will soon publish proposed rules “which will include language specifying the chronic pain conditions that would qualify for medical marijuana.”
Once the Department of Health publishes its proposed rules, the public will have the opportunity to comment before they become final.
Under current law, patients only qualify for medical marijuana use if their pain is caused by one of a few qualifying conditions.
Allowing medical cannabis for patients with chronic pain will vastly expand the number of seriously ill patients who can enroll in the program, says the Marijuana Policy Project.
Medical cannabis can reduce patients’ reliance on dangerous opioids and lead to a statewide reduction in opioid overdoes.
Tags: chronic pain, New York, New York medical marijuana