Medical cannabis patients in New York may soon be able to grow their own medicine at home after the state’s new Cannabis Control Board (CCB) voted unanimously to file the proposed regulations.
Qualifying patients would reportedly be permitted to grow up to six plants at private indoor or outdoor residences for therapeutic use. New details of the proposals were announced at the CCB’s second meeting on Thursday (21st October).
Following the publication of the proposed rules, there is set to be a 60-day period for public comment, during which time, changes can be proposed. The board will then review these comments before making any suitable revisions to the regulations.
Former Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright (D), who chairs CCB, said of the proposals: “The home cultivation of medical cannabis will provide certified patients with a cost-effective means of obtaining cannabis through personal cultivation while creating a set of standards governing the conduct and activities relating to the personal cultivation of cannabis.”
According to slides presented by the CCB, the new rules would impose “a duty on patients to take reasonable measures to ensure that cannabis plants, and any cannabis cultivated from such plants, is not readily accessible to anyone under the age of 21.”
The rules would also allow caregivers for patients under the age of 21 to grow up to six cannabis plants on the patients’ behalf. Caregivers with more than one patient would be permitted to “cultivate 1 additional cannabis plant for each subsequent patient.”
Earlier this year, New York lawmakers also approved legislation that will allow the cultivation, production, supply, and use of recreational cannabis.
Under this legislation, recreational users will also be permitted to grow cannabis plants for personal consumption at private residences. However, these rules will not come into force until legal adult-use sales begin throughout the state – something that isn’t expected to happen for months.
Under current regulation, medical cannabis patients are permitted to possess up to three ounces of cannabis or 24 grams of concentrates, and are allowed to consume cannabis in any public place where the consumption of tobacco is allowed.
Under the imminent rules that will allow both medical and recreational cannabis users to eventually cultivate cannabis at home, landlords will reserve the right to prohibit tenants from growing the plants at their properties.
