NEW YORK (AP) — While New York’s much-anticipated legal pot shops could be a year away from opening, the state is making medical marijuana much more available now.
As of late last month, clinicians can greenlight medicinal pot for any condition they think it would help, not just for a limited list of ailments. In the last few months, the state Office of Cannabis Management also has expanded the ranks of providers, started letting dispensaries sell whole marijuana buds for smoking and proposed rules for patients who want to grow their own.
The changes, foreshadowed in legislation last spring, represent a big shift for a medical marijuana program that was once one of the nation’s most restrictive. It’s now figuring out its future as New York gets ready to launch what’s expected to become one of the biggest legal U.S. markets for recreational weed for adult use. Possession and use were legalized in March; the cannabis office is working on regulations for legal sales.
“This is a huge development because it means that instead of having to wait for adult-use, a lot of people are maybe going to be able to get access to cannabis now” to deal with such problems as sleeplessness and stress, said Dr. Stacia Woodcock, a pharmacist who manages a New York City dispensary run by cannabis giant Curaleaf Holdings Inc.
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