STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4646
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 8, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sen. SAVINO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the definition of
a serious condition regarding 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 7 of section 3360 of the public health law, as
2 added by chapter 90 of the laws of 2014 and paragraph (a) as amended by
3 chapter 273 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read as follows:
4 7. [(a)] "Serious condition" means[:
5 (i) having one of the following severe debilitating or life-threaten-
6 ing conditions: cancer, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus
7 or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
8 Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, damage to the nervous tissue of
9 the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable
10 spasticity, epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, neuropathies,
11 Huntington's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, pain that degrades
12 health and functional capability where the use of medical marihuana is
13 an alternative to opioid use, substance use disorder, or as added by the
14 commissioner; and
15 (ii) any of the following conditions where it is clinically associated
16 with, or a complication of, a condition under this paragraph or its
17 treatment: cachexia or wasting syndrome; severe or chronic pain; severe
18 nausea; seizures; severe or persistent muscle spasms; or such conditions
19 as are added by the commissioner.
20 (b) No later than eighteen months from the effective date of this
21 section, the commissioner shall determine whether to add the following
22 serious conditions: Alzheimer's, muscular dystrophy, dystonia, post-
23 traumatic stress disorder and rheumatoid arthritis] a condition, or
24 symptom or complication of the condition or its treatment, for which, in
25 the practitioner's professional opinion and review of past treatments,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00041-01-1
S. 4646 2
1 the patient is likely to receive therapeutic or palliative benefit from
2 primary or adjunctive treatment with medical use of medical marihuana.
3 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately, provided however, that
4 the amendments to title 5-A of article 33 of the public health law made
5 by section one of this act shall not affect the expiration and repeal of
6 such title and shall expire and be deemed repealed therewith.