Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed into law a bill to allow medical marijuana to be used as an alternative to opioids for pain management.
Earlier this year, the Department of Health added opioid replacement and opioid-use disorder to the list of conditions that qualify a patient to be prescribed medicinal marijuana in New York. This new law formalizes these previous changes in policy and legitimizes a medical professional's prescription.
According to a press release, medical marijuana can only be prescribed by a medical professional if the pain the patient is experiencing "degrades health and functional capability, with certain other requirements."