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History
- Referred to health
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Relates to authorizing additional medical marihuana manufacture and dispensing sites
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Richard Gottfried
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to medical marihuana dispensing sites
Purpose
To require the Department of Health to register at least five more registered organizations ("ROs") to provide medical marijuana in under-served areas of the state: allow each RO to operate up to four additional dispensaries, for a total of up to eight each; allow ROs to directly contact practitioners for the purposes of education and providing information about the medical use of marihuana; and allow ROs to produce or dispense additional products particularly formulated for treatment of intractable epilepsy notwithstanding any regulatory limits on the number of allowable products per RO.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1: Amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 9 of § 3365 of the Public Health Law to allow each registered organization to operate up to four more dispensaries, for a total of up to eight each.
Read the full memo (644 words)
Amends subdivision 9 of § 3365 of the Public Health Law by adding a new paragraph (b) to require that the Department of Health register at least five additional registered organizations to manufacture and dispense medical marijuana by January 1, 2017. The Commissioner shall seek to provide the dispensaries operated by the new registered organizations in underserved areas of the state. In addition, the Commissioner is directed to consider and give appropriate weight to the applicants involved in the initial review process.
Section 2: Amends subdivision 13 of section 3364 of the public health law to allow registered organizations to directly contact medical practitioners for the purposes of education and providing information about the medical use of marihuana.
Section 3: Amends section 3364 of the public health law by adding a new subdivision 14 allowing ROs to produce or dispense additional products particularly formulated for treatment of intractable epilepsy notwithstanding any regulatory limits on the number of allowable products per RO.
Justification
The Department of Health has authorized only five registered organizations, with four dispensaries each, to provide medical marijuana. As a result, 20 medical marijuana dispensaries are available to serve the needs of 19,750,000 New Yorkers. Those 20 dispensaries are located in only 13 counties, meaning that 49 counties - with a cumulative population of over 7.5 million people have none.
Statewide, there are 978,500 New Yorkers for every medical marijuana dispensary. By comparison, New York has 5,398 pharmacies, or one for every 3,625 New Yorkers. The 22 other states with medical marijuana laws have an average of one dispensary per 210,000 people.
By any standard, New York's medical marijuana delivery system is woefully inadequate and far out of step with practices across the nation.
This bill would begin to address the patient access problems in New York by requiring the Department of Health to authorize at least five more registered organizations by January of 2017 and authorize registered organizations to operate up to eight rather than up to four dispensaries each.
This bill would also allow registered organizations to directly contact practitioners for the purpose of providing information to them about medical marihuana, educating them about the program and the science behind the medical use of cannabis.
Finally, regulations implemented by the Department limit each RO to produce and dispense a maximum of five products (referred to in regulation as "brands"). As a result, ROs are not likely to offer products targeting smaller numbers of patients. This bill allows an exception for products to treat intractable epilepsy, an extremely severe medical condition affecting children, that may not represent a significant portion of the market.
Together, these reforms would enhance patient access to both registered providers and dispensers in numerous underserved areas of the state.
Prior legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
Establishing additional registered organizations would generate tax revenue for the state and the localities they are located in.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.