NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9562
SPONSOR: Gottfried TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to dosing limitations
and medical conditions permitting the medical use of marihuana
PURPOSE:
To allow medical marihuana to be used to treat additional diseases and
conditions and to remove the limit of ten milligrams of tetrahydrocanna-
binol per dose of medical marihuana
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends subdivision 15 of § 3360 of the Public Health Law to
remove the limit of ten milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol per dose of
medical marihuana.
Section 2: Amends subdivision 7 of § 3360 of the Public Health Law by
adding the following to the list of diseases and conditions treatable by
use of medical marihuana: Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury,
dystonia, muscular dystrophy, wasting syndrome, post traumatic stress
disorder, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
Section 3: Effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
These conditions were included in the bill that initially passed the
Assembly and was expected to pass the Senate, but were deleted from the
final bill.
Expanding the list would offer critical treatment options to more
patients whose lives could be improved by medical marihuana. Some of
these conditions, such as PTSD and muscular dystrophy, are treated with
medical marihuana in other states. Other conditions are subject to ongo-
ing research, such as January 2016 findings from Israel showing poten-
tial benefits for Alzheimer's patients.
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26757043)
It is questionable whether the law ought to limit the eligible condi-
tions at all. The law does not list eligible conditions for other drugs.
The medical marihuana law also places a limit of ten milligrams of
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) per dose of medical marihuana. For some
patients, low THC products may be appropriate; for others, higher THC
may be. This decision should be made by a patient and his or her doctor
and not based on an arbitrary statute. The limit in the law has little
effect, because there is no limit on how many doses a patient may use at
a time.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9562
IN ASSEMBLY
March 16, 2016
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GOTTFRIED, LUPARDO, DINOWITZ, PAULIN, HEVESI,
BLAKE, BRINDISI, COOK, ORTIZ, RUSSELL, SEPULVEDA, SIMON, SKARTADOS,
SKOUFIS, ZEBROWSKI -- read once and referred to the Committee on
Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to dosing limitations
and medical conditions permitting the medical use of marihuana
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 15 of section 3360 of the public health law, as
2 added by chapter 90 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
3 15. "Individual dose" means a single measure of raw medical marihuana
4 or non-infused concentrates to be determined and clearly identified by a
5 patient's practitioner for the patient's specific certified condition.
6 [For ingestible or sub-lingual medical marihuana products, no individual
7 dose may contain more than ten milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol.]
8 § 2. Subdivision 7 of section 3360 of the public health law, as added
9 by chapter 90 of the laws of 2014, is amended to read as follows:
10 7. [(a)] "Serious condition" means:
11 (i) having one of the following severe debilitating or life-threaten-
12 ing conditions: cancer, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus
13 or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
14 Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, dystonia, Parkinson's
15 disease, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, damage to the nervous
16 tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of
17 intractable spasticity, epilepsy, wasting syndrome, post traumatic
18 stress disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, inflammatory bowel
19 disease, neuropathies, Huntington's disease, or as added by the commis-
20 sioner; [and] or
21 (ii) any of the following conditions where it is clinically associated
22 with, or a complication of, a condition under this paragraph or its
23 treatment: cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe or chronic pain; severe
24 nausea; seizures; severe or persistent muscle spasms; or such conditions
25 as are added by the commissioner.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13610-02-6
A. 9562 2
1 [(b) No later than eighteen months from the effective date of this
2 section, the commissioner shall determine whether to add the following
3 serious conditions: Alzheimer's, muscular dystrophy, dystonia, post-
4 traumatic stress disorder and rheumatoid arthritis.]
5 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend-
6 ments to title 5-a of article 33 of the public health law made by this
7 act shall not affect the repeal of such title and shall be deemed
8 repealed therewith.
