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Eugene

(62,658 posts)
Thu Jan 7, 2016, 01:59 PM Jan 2016

New York opens its first medical marijuana clinics

Source: Reuters

US | Thu Jan 7, 2016 10:47am EST

New York opens its first medical marijuana clinics

NEW YORK | BY LAILA KEARNEY

New York's first medical marijuana dispensaries are opening their doors on Thursday, as the state launches one of the most conservative programs of its kind in the United States.

New York joins 22 other states and Washington, D.C., with comprehensive programs that allow the legal use of marijuana by cancer, AIDS and other patients certified by a physician.

The openings in New York come more than a year and a half after Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation, known as the Compassionate Care Act, that allow patients to use marijuana to ease their symptoms. Proponents of medical marijuana had advocated for the move for years.

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The program is strictly limited to patients with very serious and terminal illnesses, including cancer, HIV and AIDS, Parkinson's disease and epilepsy.

Unlike the all other states that allow medical marijuana, except Minnesota, the program prohibits marijuana for smoking. It only allows the drug to be sold in liquid or oil form for vaporizers and inhalers or capsules taken orally. It also prohibits the cultivation of plants by patients.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-york-marijuana-idUSKBN0UL1U420160107
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