Update: Leaders from CCNY met today with members of the the Department of Health and the Governors staff. Below is brief report from that meeting. In a meeting today with parents and patients from Compassionate Care NY, the Cuomo Administration provided an update on their efforts to create an emergency access medical marijuana program for those patients who are critical or terminally ill and may not survive the eighteen months it is estimated to take to implement New York’s medical marijuana program. At least three children have died since the bill was signed into law in early July, and advocates have been pushing the Cuomo administration to establish an interim emergency access program to provide a select group of patients, who may not survive while the full program is being implemented, immediate access to medical cannabis. Today’s meeting followed a meeting in late July with patients and parents. It was after the July meeting in which Governor Cuomo issued a letter to Health Commissioner Zucker urging him to expedite access to children with severe seizure disorders. In the meeting today, the Administration made clear that they were pursuing a number of options to create emergency access but that the problem has not yet been solved. The Administration also welcomed additional ideas from patients and parents. While there appears to be efforts towards finding a way to create emergency access, a solution has not yet been found. Parents and patients who were at the meeting made clear that while they understood that the task of establishing an emergency access program may not be easy, it remains a problem that simply must be solved. The Administration also reported that they are on track to implement the full program within the 18 months timeline laid out in the statute. This is good news. However, advocates emphasized that 18 months is simply too long for some patients who, in being forced to wait, may suffer irreparable damage or die needlessly. This is why emergency access is so important. Leaving the meeting today, advocates remain cautiously optimistic that the Cuomo Administration’s work on emergency access will lead to a solution. We remain committed to working with any and all officials – the Governor, the health department, the legislature, local, state and federal officials-- to turn viable options into real solutions for families who are facing the loss of their loved ones. And where officials are lax in their duties to patients and their families, we will hold them accountable.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:17:21 +0000
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