New York had strict rules on how to get medical marijuana in NY until recent years. The residents would have to wait a long time to get qualification cards to get qualified for medical marijuana treatment. But now, you can get approval for medical marijuana within a few hours of your request. The best part is, you don’t have to leave home to get the card!
Let us Look at the Ailments that Qualify for Medical Marijuana Treatment
A patient gets legal protection under the laws of New York Medical Marijuana if he suffers from one of the following ailments that are life-threatening, severe and debilitating.
- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) (Positive Status)
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
- Cachexia or Wasting Syndrome
- Cancer
- Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy
- Chronic Pain
- Crohn’s Disease
- Damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with an objective neurological indication of intractable Spasticity
- Epilepsy
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (Positive Status)
- Huntington’s Disease
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
- Neuropathies
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Severe Nausea
- Seizures
- Severe or persistent Muscle Spasms
- Severe or Chronic Pain or such conditions as added by the Commissioner
- Ulcerative Colitis
Who Qualifies for New York Medical Marijuana Program?
- Any patient who has any of the above-listed ailments and is at least 18 years of age is qualified.
- In case the patient is under the age of 18, they must get an Approved Caregiver. This Caregiver must then register on behalf of the underage patient.
- The patient must be a New York State resident. They must be capable of providing proof in the form of a copy of a New York State Driver’s License. They can also produce a State Issued Identification Card that has the current address in it.
- The patient must be treated in New York State for the ailment for which the patient is seeking marijuana for.
- The patient must be thoroughly evaluated and checked by a certified physician. This practitioner must be certified by the Department of Health to recommend Medical Marijuana to the patient.
- The patient must be kept under the care of this qualified practitioner.
- The patient’s practitioner must believe and willingly certify the patient to intake some palliative or therapeutic benefits from medical marijuana.
- Above everything, the patient must have one of the ailments that are listed in the above section.
Follow These Steps After Establishing Your Qualification for Medical Marijuana
Once all the above qualifying rules apply, you can go ahead and create your account in My.NY.Gov.
- Then you must choose the Medical Marijuana Data Management System.
- You must upload your application through the New York State Patient Registry online.
- Your application form must contain the following
- Name
- Date of birth
- Doctor’s certification (It should include a statement that the patient has one of the serious ailments listed above and is under the doctor’s care for that condition)
- Dates for which the certification is valid
- Photo of the patient
- Federal registration number
- Name, address, and phone number
- Original signature of the practitioner
- Whether you are a patient or a caregiver, an application fee of $50.00 must be paid.
- Please note that any patient has the leisure to designate up to two caregivers in your case.
Once your application is approved by the state, they will issue a temporary Registry Identification Card. North Carolina is not among them. You can collect it through your account at My.NY.gov. Once you get the state issued identification, you officially get the license to purchase the approved medical marijuana products. You will receive the official Medical Marijuana Identification Cards through your mail. This identification card will include any limitations regarding forms or dosage of medical marijuana that can be made by the certifying doctor.
Please note that:
- The issued registry identification card will expire after one year from the date the patient’s doctor has put his signature on it.
- If the patient starts feeling better and shows signs of recovery, the identification card can be terminated early on doctor’s recommendation.
- In case the patient is terminally ill, then after doctor’s recommendation, the registration will remain active until the patient’s death.
Legislation Updates to the Medical Marijuana Law
There has been an amendment to the Medical Marijuana Law time and again. Let’s look at them here:
Effective March 22, 2017, Chronic Pain has been approved by the Health Commissioner, Dr. Howard A. Zucker – any severe debilitating pain that the practitioner determines degrades health and functional capability, that has intolerable side effects, that has lasted or is expected to last for at least three months, and other modes of therapy that has failed to treat or that cannot be treated by another therapy because it would be harmful.”
Effective June 2018, a regulatory amendment issued by the NY State Department of Health added Opioid use as a qualifying condition. However, later in July 2018, this was expanded and any condition for which an Opioid could be prescribed now qualifies for medical marijuana due to emergency regulations issued by the NY State Department of Health.
