Robert Celt
New Member
At first blush, it's a head scratcher: After years of passionate lobbying for medical marijuana in New York, the state passes a law allowing it, only to have patients seemingly avoiding it in droves.
What is going on? Why would patients not be scrambling for a drug that's recognized to relieve the symptoms of a host of ailments? Why would doctors not prescribe it?
The answer rests, in part, on the state's exceedingly strict rules. But it also stems from a federal policy based more on emotion than medical judgment.
Clearly, a program for which patients were clamoring is off to a slow start. As of Monday, there were 921 patients certified to use medical marijuana in New York. That's about 1 in 21,400 people, the lowest rate among the two dozen states that allow medical marijuana.
Why? It might be because of the requirement that doctors get state training before they can certify patients as eligible for medical marijuana. Few doctors have been willing to go through the process — fewer than 400. The public can't even look up their names.
It might be the limited availability of the medicines, which can be made only by five licensed producers who can sell their products through up to four dispensaries each. That's 20 outlets in a state of close to 20 million people, spread over 54,556 square miles. For some perspective, there are about 5,400 pharmacies in New York.
The products cannot include the smokeable plant leaves, but must be in a processed form such as oils, vapor cartridges and spray. The state says that makes doses more precise, but it also inflates the cost — which isn't covered by health insurance, thus barring many people of modest means.
We can understand Gov. Andrew Cuomo's insistence on a tightly regulated program. Politically, a medical marijuana program run amok could be a disaster. But the program he and the Legislature devised appears so cumbersome as to be self-defeating.
Some lawmakers agree. Sen. Diane Savino, R-Staten Island, suggests licensing more producers, and allowing them to market to doctors, just as other drug companies do. Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, suggests allowing more eligible medical conditions, and permitting the smokeable form of the product. Those are sensible steps.
But over all these state programs hangs the specter of a federal crackdown. Marijuana remains a Schedule I drug, in the same category as heroin and LSD. A bipartisan bill to move it to Schedule II, which includes strictly controlled but medically useful drugs, has gone nowhere. While President Obama has allowed states to decide what's best for them, a less enlightened administration could change that stance.
Congress should end this uncertainty. As long as doctors, patients, pharmacies, insurers and, yes, politicians, have this threat hanging over them, a drug that could help so many will continue to be available to so few.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Revisit Medical Marijuana In New York
Author: TU Editorial Board
Contact: timesunion
Photo Credit: Jennifer Peltz
Website: timesunion
What is going on? Why would patients not be scrambling for a drug that's recognized to relieve the symptoms of a host of ailments? Why would doctors not prescribe it?
The answer rests, in part, on the state's exceedingly strict rules. But it also stems from a federal policy based more on emotion than medical judgment.
Clearly, a program for which patients were clamoring is off to a slow start. As of Monday, there were 921 patients certified to use medical marijuana in New York. That's about 1 in 21,400 people, the lowest rate among the two dozen states that allow medical marijuana.
Why? It might be because of the requirement that doctors get state training before they can certify patients as eligible for medical marijuana. Few doctors have been willing to go through the process — fewer than 400. The public can't even look up their names.
It might be the limited availability of the medicines, which can be made only by five licensed producers who can sell their products through up to four dispensaries each. That's 20 outlets in a state of close to 20 million people, spread over 54,556 square miles. For some perspective, there are about 5,400 pharmacies in New York.
The products cannot include the smokeable plant leaves, but must be in a processed form such as oils, vapor cartridges and spray. The state says that makes doses more precise, but it also inflates the cost — which isn't covered by health insurance, thus barring many people of modest means.
We can understand Gov. Andrew Cuomo's insistence on a tightly regulated program. Politically, a medical marijuana program run amok could be a disaster. But the program he and the Legislature devised appears so cumbersome as to be self-defeating.
Some lawmakers agree. Sen. Diane Savino, R-Staten Island, suggests licensing more producers, and allowing them to market to doctors, just as other drug companies do. Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, suggests allowing more eligible medical conditions, and permitting the smokeable form of the product. Those are sensible steps.
But over all these state programs hangs the specter of a federal crackdown. Marijuana remains a Schedule I drug, in the same category as heroin and LSD. A bipartisan bill to move it to Schedule II, which includes strictly controlled but medically useful drugs, has gone nowhere. While President Obama has allowed states to decide what's best for them, a less enlightened administration could change that stance.
Congress should end this uncertainty. As long as doctors, patients, pharmacies, insurers and, yes, politicians, have this threat hanging over them, a drug that could help so many will continue to be available to so few.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Revisit Medical Marijuana In New York
Author: TU Editorial Board
Contact: timesunion
Photo Credit: Jennifer Peltz
Website: timesunion