New York Health Commissioner Says Medical Marijuana Program Is Growing

During National Public Health Week the New York Health Commissioner addressed the state’s medical marijuana program. It has been a sluggish start to the program, but Dr. Howard Zucker said that the program is “growing responsibly.” Much of that is credited to the expansion of the list of qualifying conditions.

Chronic pain was recently added to the list of qualifying conditions, which has led to an increase in the patient base, reports the Hudson Valley Post. The state now has 927 registered practitioners that can provide medical marijuana recommendations. As of the end of March 2017, the patient base was 15,523 patients strong.

Dr. Zucker said, “After conducting a thorough review of scientific literature, it became clear that there may be certain benefits in the use of medical marijuana by patients suffering from chronic pain. Medical marijuana is already helping thousands of patients across NYS, and adding chronic pain as a qualifying condition will help more patients and further strengthen the program.”

The addition of chronic pain to the qualifying conditions list opens up the New York medical marijuana program to tens of thousands more people statewide.