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SANTA FE, N.M. — Dr. Steven Rosenberg spent years trying to help people with pain as an anesthesiologist in New York.

He thought he’d left all that behind when he and his wife moved to New Mexico several years ago to retire.

Now his “retirement career” is evaluating patients for medical marijuana. And Rosenberg is considered an expert in the field by the state Medical Board, which licenses physicians and physician assistants. Rosenberg testified this year in a disciplinary hearing involving another “medical marijuana doctor.”

“My motivation for doing this (marijuana practice) was my wife’s niece contracted lung cancer in New York state where it is not legal and she was in the final stages, great pain and suffering,” Rosenberg testified during the hearing in April.

“She certainly would have qualified here. And she refused cannabis, not my cannabis, but her nephew had access. And the reason she refused, even though she knew she was going to die, was because it was illegal. So she died in great pain and suffering.”

Originally from New York City, Rosenberg received his medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and a master’s degree in biology from Duke University. He spent more than 20 years as an anesthesiologist in New York before moving to New Mexico.

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Rosenberg said he wants to help others “who are in a similar situation to my wife’s niece.”

“So they wouldn’t have to go through all that … because I believe in medical cannabis in all forms.”