N.Y. Public Health Law § 3361: Certification of patients

* § 3361. Certification of patients. 1. A patient certification may

only be issued if: (a) a practitioner has been registered with the

department to issue a certification as determined by the commissioner;

(b) the patient has a serious condition, which shall be specified in the

patient's health care record; (c) the practitioner by training or

experience is qualified to treat the serious condition; (d) the patient

is under the practitioner's continuing care for the serious condition;

and (e) 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

marihuana for the serious 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 serious

condition and the patient is under the practitioner's care for the

serious condition; (c) a statement attesting that all requirements of

subdivision one of this section have been satisfied; (d) the date; and

(e) the name, address, federal registration number, telephone number,

and the handwritten signature of the certifying practitioner. The

commissioner may require by regulation that the certification shall be

on a form provided by the department. The practitioner may state in the

certification that, in the practitioner's professional opinion, the

patient would benefit from medical marihuana 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 certification shall not expire until the patient dies.

3. In making a certification, the practitioner shall consider the form

of medical marihuana the patient should consume, including the method of

consumption and any particular strain, variety, and quantity or

percentage of marihuana or particular active ingredient, and appropriate

dosage. The practitioner shall state in the certification any

recommendation or limitation the practitioner makes, in his or her

professional opinion, concerning the appropriate form or forms of

medical marihuana and dosage.

4. Every practitioner shall consult the prescription monitoring drug

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

behalf, provided that such designation is in accordance with section

thirty-three hundred forty-three-a of this article.

5. The practitioner shall give the certification to the certified

patient, and place a copy in the patient's health care record.

6. No practitioner shall issue a certification under this section for

himself or herself.

7. A registry identification card based on a certification shall

expire one year after the date the certification is signed by the

practitioner.

8. (a) If the practitioner states in the certification that, in the

practitioner's professional opinion, the patient would benefit from

medical marihuana only until a specified earlier date, then the registry

identification card shall expire on that date;

(b) If the practitioner states in the certification that in the

practitioner'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 returned by the

certified patient to the department;

(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 marihuana or dosage for the certified

patient; and

(e) The commissioner shall make regulations 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

certifies in the certification that the patient's serious condition is

progressive and degenerative or that delay in the patient's certified

medical use of marihuana poses a serious risk to the patient's life or

health.

(b) The department shall create the form to be used for a special

certification and shall make that form available to be downloaded from

the department's website.

* NB Repealed July 5, 2028 and Repealed 6 months after the full

cannabis control board created by Article 2 of the cannabis law has been

appointed