New York must allow commuters and visitors to access their Medical Weed
New York Lawmakers Urged to Expand Medical Cannabis Access Across State Lines.
Every day, hundreds of thousands of people travel to the Empire State to go to work, catch a Broadway show, experience Niagara Falls or to conduct business in the economic capital of the world.
Inevitably, some of these visitors will visit a pharmacy — perhaps to pick up aspirin or cold medicine, even get a prescription refilled that they might have forgotten at home. Most do not think twice about the convenience of access to pharmacies as New York laws largely support the health and wellness needs of out-of-state commuters and travelers.
Unless you’re an out-of-state medical cannabis patient.
Medical cannabis patients from outside New York, such as those residing in New Jersey or across New England, have been forced into an impossible, and arguably cruel position: either break federal and state laws by traveling across state lines into New York with a limited amount of medication on which they rely to maintain their quality of life or go without their medicine and risk the physical and mental consequences.
As a New York State licensed attorney and a medical cannabis patient residing in Massachusetts, I have personally experienced this moral and legal quandary. In high school, I suffered a sports-related back injury that kicked off more than a decade of back surgeries, steroid epidural injections, physical therapy, and prescription opioids. Nothing in traditional medicine brought me sustained pain relief and a productive quality of life until I became a medical cannabis patient and found full-spectrum medical cannabis products at licensed dispensaries. However, due to federal law and New York’s current medical cannabis program, I can neither bring my life-changing medicine with me, nor purchase it from pharmacists at medical cannabis dispensaries across New York.
Since New York’s medical cannabis program launched almost a decade ago, it has faced a bumpy and inconsistent history and remains one of the nation’s most restrictive systems. Though lawmakers are now rightly focused on fixing the faltering adult-use market, they must not lose sight of the need to improve access for medical cannabis patients. That should start with enabling patient reciprocity.
Proposed reciprocity legislation would allow patients with a valid state-issued medical cannabis card who live outside New York to purchase their medicine from a medical cannabis dispensary located within Empire State lines. This would not only improve patient access and expand equity, but also be a meaningful step toward eradicating lasting stigmas around cannabis use.
States such as Florida, Maine, Rhode Island, Nevada, Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, as well as Washington D.C., have already embraced medical cannabis patient reciprocity, recognizing the need to create universal access to medicine for patients. Widespread fraud and abuse predicted by critics and opponents of patient reciprocity have not occurred in these states as a result. Rather, these states and our nation’s capital have created more welcoming, prosperous, and healthy medical cannabis markets — with the added bonus of increased tax revenue for participating states and communities.
Notably, a recent study conducted by the New York State Department of Health highlights the efficacy of medical cannabis in reducing opioid usage among chronic pain patients. Findings revealed that there has been a 51% decrease in opioid dosages among patients who have used medical cannabis for 30 days or more. The study underscores the potential of medical cannabis not only to manage pain but also as a tool to mitigate opioid misuse and overdose. Without medical cannabis patient reciprocity in New York, many medical cannabis patients find themselves in desperate need of pain management while away from home and are forced to revert back to traditional pharmaceutical pain medications, which in many cases are less effective.
The remarkable utility of the cannabis plant and the life-changing impact it has had on my chronic pain management inspired me to refocus my legal career to work in the cannabis industry and become an advocate for medical cannabis patients. Since I made that legal career change three years ago, there has been significant growth and acceptance of medical and adult-use cannabis and New York’s programs have improved. But more work needs to be done.
If New York wants to maintain its reputation as a commuter and tourist-friendly destination and a progressive policy leader, lawmakers need to ensure that every cannabis patient can legally access their medications. Forcing patients into a Hobson’s choice of opting to either protect their health or following the law is both unfair and unwelcoming.
It’s time for Albany lawmakers to acknowledge that access to medical cannabis needs to transcend state boundaries. They can do that by following the example set by other states and passing legislation to allow for out-of-state reciprocity before the 2024 session ends in June.
