New York To Offer Home Delivery Of Medical Marijuana By The End Of September

New York Department of Health is about to expand its medical marijuana program to meet more the needs of patients and improve accessibility. They said that soon they will allow nurse practitioners to authorize the medical marijuana for patients and offers home deliveries for patients who cannot leave their homes.

State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker said that over 7,000 New Yorkers have been approved for medical marijuana since the operation of the program started in January. He further said that he will continue to look for ways to enhance the program for patients and practitioners, according to ABC7 NY.

New York does not permit marijuana to be smoked. On the other hand, it can be made into a sort of sprays, tinctures and other forms.

The governor's counsel, Alphonso David, stated that they don't want the federal government to come in and exercise a massive amount of oversight and shut the entire program down. He further said that they have always been interested in expanding the program and wanted to make sure they have the data to support it.

The home delivery of the drug is expected to operate at the end of September. Furthermore, the regulations will be filed on Tuesday to permit the expanded role for nurse practitioners. These regulations are subject to a 45-day comment period.

Some other alterations include streamlining restrictions on manufacturing medical marijuana. This also includes considering expanding the number of medical conditions that qualify patients to use it that includes mental health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder and Alzheimer's disease. The residents eligible to use the drug are those diagnose with medical conditions such as AIDS, epilepsy and cancer, which the advocates considered these ailments as too narrow, according to New York Times.

Mr. David believed that the expansion of duties for nurse practitioners would be of help to the situation. He also put emphasized that the changes to the program were the natural steps for a system that was designed to evolve. "This is enhancing the program," he said, "so that we meet patient need and patient access."