2023 New York Laws › CAN - Cannabis › Article 3 - Medical Cannabis › 30 - Certification of Patients.

§  30.  Certification of patients. 1. A patient certification may only
be issued if:
(a) the patient has a condition,  which  shall  be  specified  in  the
patient's health care record;
(b)  the  practitioner by training or experience is qualified to treat
the condition;
(c) the patient is under the practitioner's continuing  care  for  the
condition; and
(d)  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
cannabis for the 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 condition
and  the patient is under the practitioner's care for the 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,
telephone number, and the signature of the certifying practitioner.  The
board  may  require  by  regulation that the certification shall be on a
form  provided  by  the  office.  The  practitioner  may  state  in  the
certification  that,  in  the  practitioner's  professional opinion, the
patient would benefit from medical cannabis 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 may consider  the  form
of  medical cannabis the patient should consume, including the method of
consumption  and  any  particular  strain,  variety,  and  quantity   or
percentage  of cannabis or particular active ingredient, and appropriate
dosage.  The  practitioner  may   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 cannabis and dosage.
4.  Every  practitioner  shall  consult  the  prescription  monitoring
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 the public health law.
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
themselves.
7.  A  registry  identification  card  based  on a certification shall
expire one year after the  date  the  certification  is  signed  by  the
practitioner,  except  as  provided  for  in  subdivision  eight of this
section.
8. (a) If the practitioner states in the certification  that,  in  the
practitioner's  professional  opinion,  the  patient  would benefit from
medical cannabis 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 destroyed by the certified  patient;  (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 cannabis or dosage for the certified patient;  and  (e)
the board 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  condition  is
progressive and degenerative or that delay in  the  patient's  certified
medical use of cannabis poses a risk to the patient's life or health.
(b)  The  office  shall  create  the  form  to  be  used for a special
certification and shall make that form available to be  downloaded  from
the office's website.
10.  Prior to issuing a certification a practitioner must complete, at
a minimum, a two-hour course as determined by the board  in  regulation.
For  the purposes of this article a person's status as a practitioner is
deemed to be a  "license"  for  the  purposes  of  section  thirty-three
hundred ninety of the public health law and shall be subject to the same
revocation process.