Amd §30, Cannabis L; add Art 2 Title 4-A §252, Pub Health L
Relates to the topics of the course required to be taken by practitioners certifying patients as eligible for medical cannabis; establishes the endocannabinoid system awareness program; requires the office of cannabis awareness and the department of health to publish information about the endocannabinoid system awareness program on their websites.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6972--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 27, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to said committee
AN ACT to amend the cannabis law and the public health law, in relation
to the course required to be taken by practitioners certifying
patients as eligible for medical cannabis and establishing the endo-
cannabinoid system awareness program
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 10 of section 30 of the cannabis law is amended
2 and a new subdivision 11 is added to read as follows:
3 10. (a) Prior to issuing a certification a practitioner must complete,
4 at a minimum, a two-hour course as determined by the board in
5 regulation; provided, however, that such course shall, at a minimum,
6 meet the requirements of paragraph (c) of this subdivision. For the
7 purposes of this article a person's status as a practitioner is deemed
8 to be a "license" for the purposes of section thirty-three hundred nine-
9 ty of the public health law and shall be subject to the same revocation
10 process.
11 (b) The office shall approve at least one, if not more, course for
12 practitioners seeking to certify patients for medical cannabis, which
13 shall be a minimum of two hours in duration.
14 (c) The educational content of such course or courses shall include:
15 the pharmacology of cannabis; contraindications; side effects; adverse
16 reactions; overdose prevention; drug interactions; dosing; routes of
17 administration; risks and benefits; warnings and precautions; abuse and
18 dependence; and such other components as determined by the office.
19 11. The office shall provide information on the office's website on
20 the endocannabinoid system awareness program established pursuant to
21 section two hundred fifty-two of the public health law, including the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08994-04-5
S. 6972--A 2
1 information and guidance established pursuant to subdivision two of such
2 section.
3 § 2. Article 2 of the public health law is amended by adding a new
4 title 4-A to read as follows:
5 TITLE IV-A
6 ENDOCANNABINOID SYSTEM AWARENESS PROGRAM
7 Section 252. Endocannabinoid system awareness program.
8 § 252. Endocannabinoid system awareness program. 1. There is hereby
9 established within the department the endocannabinoid system awareness
10 program which shall educate health care practitioners regarding the
11 endocannabinoid system and how it interacts with other bodily systems.
12 2. The commissioner, in consultation with the office of cannabis
13 management, shall establish and distribute to health care practitioners
14 comprehensive information and guidance regarding the endocannabinoid
15 system and how it interacts with other bodily functions. Such informa-
16 tion and guidance shall include, but not be limited to, the following
17 topics:
18 (a) the endocannabinoid system;
19 (b) cannabinoids, chronic pain and opioids;
20 (c) pharmacogenetics and cannabis;
21 (d) federal food and drug administration (FDA) approved cannabinoid
22 medications;
23 (e) risks, benefits, and impacts of cannabis consumption on body
24 systems; and
25 (f) interactions of cannabis with other medications.
26 3. The department shall:
27 (a) inform health care practitioners of the need to be aware of the
28 endocannabinoid system and how it interacts with other bodily functions;
29 and
30 (b) provide information on the department's website on the endocanna-
31 binoid system awareness program, including the information and guidance
32 established pursuant to subdivision two of this section.
33 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
34 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
35 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
36 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
37 completed on or before such effective date.
