ALBANY – New York recently decided to legalize the use of medical marijuana in their state. By Thursday, they opened the doors of eight medical marijuana dispensaries. The state legislators, including the state’s governor, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo were very clear that they do not have intentions to fully legalize the plant any time soon.
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REGULATIONS
While the addition of medical marijuana dispensaries is always a step in the right direction, we cannot be certain how many patients actually received treatment in the first hours of open doors. New York state has set up a series of strict regulations, which can be viewed here.
The patient qualification process started on December 23rd, and as of today, only 51 patients have qualified.
The strangest stipulation for medical marijuana in New York state is that it is not allowed to be smoked at all. Instead, companies must process it into other forms for ingestion. Aside from that, only 20 locations throughout the state will be allowed to sell medicinal marijuana.
HOW DO I KNOW IF I QUALIFY?
Unlike more lax medical marijuana states such as California or Michigan, New York only grants the use of medical marijuana as prescribed by a doctor for debilitating ailments. Some of those ailments include:
- Cancer
- H.I.V/AIDS
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Huntington’s Disease
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Lou Gehrig’s Disease
- Intractable Spasticity*
- Neuropathies*
*=Specification may be necessary
WHERE ARE THE NEW MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES LOCATED?
Medical marijuana is available at a few locations throughout the state, the most hyped being the location in Manhattan on E. 14th near Third Ave.
Other dispensaries can be found in Kingston, Buffalo, the Finger Lakes region, and White Plains.