Senate Bill S5704

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5704
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 28, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens. SKOUFIS, COONEY -- read twice and ordered printed,
   and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
 
 AN ACT to amend the cannabis law, in relation to certification by  phar-
   macists of patients using medical cannabis
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 30 of the  cannabis  law  is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   §  30.  Certification of patients. 1. A patient certification may only
 be issued if:
   (a) the patient has a condition,  which  shall  be  specified  in  the
 patient's health care record, IF APPLICABLE;
   (b)  the  practitioner by training or experience is qualified to treat
 the condition;
   (c) the patient is under the practitioner's continuing  care  for  the
 condition; [and] OR
   (d)  in  the  practitioner's  professional  opinion and review of past
 treatments, the patient is likely to receive therapeutic  or  palliative
 benefit  from  the  primary  or adjunctive treatment with medical use of
 cannabis for the condition.
   2. The certification shall include:
   (a) the name, date of birth and address of the patient;
   (b) a statement that the patient has a condition and  the  patient  is
 under the practitioner's care for the condition;
   (c)  a  statement  attesting  that [all requirements] A REQUIREMENT of
 subdivision one of this section [have] HAS been satisfied;
   (d) the date; and
   (e) the name, address, telephone number,  and  the  signature  of  the
 certifying practitioner.
   The board may require by regulation that the certification shall be on
 a form provided by the office. The practitioner may state in the certif-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD04111-01-5
              

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 ication  that,  in  the practitioner's professional opinion, the patient
 would benefit from medical cannabis only until a specified date.    [The
 practitioner  may state in the certification that, in the practitioner's
 professional opinion, the patient is terminally ill and that the certif-
 ication shall not expire until the patient dies.]
   3.  In  making a certification, the practitioner may consider the form
 of medical cannabis the patient should consume, including the method  of
 consumption and any particular strain, variety, and quantity or percent-
 age of cannabis or particular active ingredient, and appropriate dosage.
 The  practitioner  may  state in the certification any recommendation or
 limitation the practitioner makes, in [his or  her]  THE  PRACTITIONER'S
 professional  opinion,  concerning  the  appropriate  form  or  forms of
 medical cannabis and dosage.
   4. Every practitioner shall MAKE A REASONABLE EFFORT  TO  consult  the
 prescription  monitoring  program  registry prior to making or issuing a
 certification, for the  purpose  of  reviewing  a  patient's  controlled
 substance  history.  For  purposes  of  this section, a practitioner may
 authorize a designee to  consult  the  prescription  monitoring  program
 registry  on  [his or her] THE PRACTITIONER'S behalf, provided that such
 designation is in accordance with section  thirty-three  hundred  forty-
 three-a of the public health law.
   5.  The  practitioner  shall  give  the certification to the certified
 patient, and place a copy in the patient's health  care  record  IF  THE
 PATIENT IS UNDER THE PRACTITIONER'S CONTINUING CARE.
   6.  No practitioner shall issue a certification under this section for
 themselves.
   7. A registry identification card based on a certification  shall  NOT
 expire [one year after the date the certification is signed by the prac-
 titioner], except as provided for in subdivision eight of this section.
   8.    (a) If the practitioner states in the certification that, in the
 practitioner's professional opinion,  the  patient  would  benefit  from
 medical  cannabis only until a specified earlier date, then the registry
 identification card shall expire on that date; AND
   (b) [if the practitioner states in the certification that in the prac-
 titioner's professional opinion the patient is terminally ill  and  that
 the  certification  shall  not  expire  until the patient dies, then the
 registry identification card shall state that the patient is  terminally
 ill  and  that  the registration card shall not expire until the patient
 dies; (c) if the practitioner re-issues the certification  to  terminate
 the  certification  on an earlier date, then the registry identification
 card shall expire on that date and shall be promptly  destroyed  by  the
 certified  patient;  (d)  if the certification so provides, the registry
 identification card shall state any recommendation or limitation by  the
 practitioner  as  to the form or forms of medical cannabis or dosage for
 the certified patient; and (e) the] THE board  [shall]  MAY  make  regu-
 lations to implement this subdivision.
   9.  (a) A certification may be a special certification if, in addition
 to the other requirements for a certification, the  practitioner  certi-
 fies  in  the  certification that the patient's condition is progressive
 and degenerative or that delay in the patient's certified medical use of
 cannabis poses a risk to the patient's life or health.
   (b) The office shall create the form to be used for a special  certif-
 ication  and  shall  make  that form available to be downloaded from the
 office's website.
   10. Prior to issuing a certification a practitioner must complete,  at
 a  minimum,  a two-hour course as determined by the board in regulation.
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 For the purposes of this article a person's status as a practitioner  is
 deemed  to  be  a  "license"  for  the  purposes of section thirty-three
 hundred ninety of the public health law and shall be subject to the same
 revocation process.
   11. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER LAW, RULE, OR REGULATION, ANY PHARMACIST
 EMPLOYED  BY  A  REGISTERED ORGANIZATION AND RESPONSIBLE FOR SUPERVISING
 THE DISPENSING OF MEDICAL CANNABIS WITHIN A CANNABIS DISPENSING FACILITY
 SHALL BE DEEMED AN AUTHORIZED PRACTITIONER ABLE TO RECOMMEND AND CERTIFY
 PATIENTS UPON CONSULTATION WITHIN SUCH DISPENSING FACILITY PROVIDED THAT
 SUCH PHARMACIST HAS COMPLETED  THE  TWO-HOUR  COURSE  REQUIRED  BY  THIS
 SECTION  AND  REGISTERED  WITH  THE OFFICE.   THE FEE FOR SUCH A CERTIF-
 ICATION SHALL NOT EXCEED TWENTY-FIVE DOLLARS.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.