The New York State Department of Health says the medical marijuana program is launching on schedule, but that doesn’t mean doctors are ready to prescribe it.
A statement from the DOH says 8 of the twenty medical marijuana dispensaries approved across the state will open on Thursday, in Onondaga, Erie, Albany, Ulster and Westchester Counties, and in Manhattan. Additional dispensaries, like the one in Rochester's Eastman Business Park, are expected to open on a rolling basis throughout the month.
But some health care professionals are still concerned about the access to medical marijuana in their communities.
Nancy Adams is the Executive Director of the Monroe County Medical Society. She says, when the Compassionate Care Act was first passed, their phones were ringing off the hook. Doctors would call in, excited about the treatment, looking for more information.
"They had a lot of questions about, can you refer me to resources so I can find out how medical marijuana would interfere with other medications I'm prescribing for patients? Or, how is potency monitored and determined? You know, how is the dosing determined? All those things."
Adams says some local doctors decided they didn't have enough information to confidently choose this treatment method.
Governor Cuomo says the state health department will be forthcoming with more information about pricing, dosing, and other variables in the next week to ten days.
