New York Senate Bill S06972 Latest Draft

   
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6972--A 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE March 27, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. HARCKHAM -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the cannabis law and the public health law, in relation to the course required to be taken by practitioners certifying patients as eligible for medical cannabis and establishing the endo- cannabinoid system awareness program The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 10 of section 30 of the cannabis law is amended 2 and a new subdivision 11 is added to read as follows: 3 10. (a) Prior to issuing a certification a practitioner must complete, 4 at a minimum, a two-hour course as determined by the board in 5 regulation; provided, however, that such course shall, at a minimum, 6 meet the requirements of paragraph (c) of this subdivision. For the 7 purposes of this article a person's status as a practitioner is deemed 8 to be a "license" for the purposes of section thirty-three hundred nine- 9 ty of the public health law and shall be subject to the same revocation 10 process. 11 (b) The office shall approve at least one, if not more, course for 12 practitioners seeking to certify patients for medical cannabis, which 13 shall be a minimum of two hours in duration. 14 (c) The educational content of such course or courses shall include: 15 the pharmacology of cannabis; contraindications; side effects; adverse 16 reactions; overdose prevention; drug interactions; dosing; routes of 17 administration; risks and benefits; warnings and precautions; abuse and 18 dependence; and such other components as determined by the office. 19 11. The office shall provide information on the office's website on 20 the endocannabinoid system awareness program established pursuant to 21 section two hundred fifty-two of the public health law, including the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD08994-04-5 
 S. 6972--A 2 1 information and guidance established pursuant to subdivision two of such 2 section. 3 § 2. Article 2 of the public health law is amended by adding a new 4 title 4-A to read as follows: 5 TITLE IV-A 6 ENDOCANNABINOID SYSTEM AWARENESS PROGRAM 7 Section 252. Endocannabinoid system awareness program. 8 § 252. Endocannabinoid system awareness program. 1. There is hereby 9 established within the department the endocannabinoid system awareness 10 program which shall educate health care practitioners regarding the 11 endocannabinoid system and how it interacts with other bodily systems. 12 2. The commissioner, in consultation with the office of cannabis 13 management, shall establish and distribute to health care practitioners 14 comprehensive information and guidance regarding the endocannabinoid 15 system and how it interacts with other bodily functions. Such informa- 16 tion and guidance shall include, but not be limited to, the following 17 topics: 18 (a) the endocannabinoid system; 19 (b) cannabinoids, chronic pain and opioids; 20 (c) pharmacogenetics and cannabis; 21 (d) federal food and drug administration (FDA) approved cannabinoid 22 medications; 23 (e) risks, benefits, and impacts of cannabis consumption on body 24 systems; and 25 (f) interactions of cannabis with other medications. 26 3. The department shall: 27 (a) inform health care practitioners of the need to be aware of the 28 endocannabinoid system and how it interacts with other bodily functions; 29 and 30 (b) provide information on the department's website on the endocanna- 31 binoid system awareness program, including the information and guidance 32 established pursuant to subdivision two of this section. 33 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 34 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend- 35 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen- 36 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and 37 completed on or before such effective date.