New York’s Department of Health is close to easing regulations for companies to make new products; and patients, their caretakers and providers to learn about medical marijuana.

But medical marijuana advocates say the DOH should prune more of the rules that have grown pot prices and stunted patient use since New York legalized the drug in 2014.

DOH officials countered that they’ll continue to make the medical cannabis program more accessible and affordable.

But the federal government’s pot prohibition - which prevents insurance coverage, makes the drug pricey.

“When a federal policy recognizes the benefits of medical marijuana and permits insurance companies to cover it … that will decrease prices,” said Joshua Vinciguerra, director of the DOH’S Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.

The current proposed regulations, he added, “continue to streamline the cost of business, give patients greater access to more products, and hopefully reduce costs over time.”

Since the public comment period ended last Friday for the DOH's proposals, the department has begun taking as long as it needs to study the feedback.

If the DOH makes no changes to the proposals, the department would publish the new regulations, and they would take effect shortly after that.

But if the DOH revises the proposals, another 30-day public comment period would begin.

Currently, five companies – known as registered organizations, or ROs – are allowed to manufacture and dispense medical marijuana around the state.

And practitioners, who undergo state-required training, certify patients to use medical cannabis for a limited number of conditions, including chronic pain; cancer; HIV and AIDS; Lou Gehrig's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases; epilepsy; certain spinal cord injuries; and multiple sclerosis.

Proposing regulations

New York’s current law requires medical cannabis to be processed before it can be sold, so patients can’t buy whole “marijuana flower,” or buds, and other parts of the plant. And the state doesn’t permit smoking. But under the proposed DOH rules, ROs could:

n Expand the number of products they can apply to the DOH for approval to manufacture and/or distribute, including topical preparations such as lotions, ointments and patches, and semi-solid products like chewable and effervescent tablets and lozenges. Currently, patients have very limited options, including puffing on marijuana oil vaporizer pens, mouth drops, capsules, tinctures and nebulizers, though ROs are allowed to submit plans to the DOH to wholesale each other’s products.

n Make and sell more forms of non-smokable ground plant material, including different types for vaporization products and capsules.

n Create public informational areas inside dispensaries; and allow prospective patients, practitioners, and other members of the public to visit to learn about medical cannabis. Currently, only certified patients and their designated caregivers can visit without the DOH's prior written approval.

n Receive more leeway in how close they have to come to doses listed on labels, which allows the manufacturing of bigger, less-costly batches. The DOH also promised to streamline and hasten its quality control lab testing for existing and new medical cannabis products.

Kate Bell, a legislative specialist with the Marijuana Policy Project, commended the state for proposing regulations that make ROs “look more like pharmacies and less like prisons.”

“New York is finally moving in the right direction, though affordability is really the key thing, and we’re hoping we finally get to a place where health insurance is paying for medical marijuana,” Bell said.

Lowering cannabis costs

Additionally, the DOH proposals would allow providers to choose from a two-hour course, in addition to the current four-hour offering, to be qualified to certify patients for medical marijuana.

“We’re two years into the medical cannabis program being implemented in New York, and the sky hasn’t fallen, so the state is saying ‘Maybe these registered organizations have earned the right to a little bit more flexibility in running their operation,’” said Jeremy Unruh, Chief Legal Officer for PharmaCannis, Orange County’s registered organization.

But New York could radically reduce the cost of medical cannabis by simply letting patients buy plants, said New York City attorney Joseph Bondy, a member of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law’s Legal Committee.

“We botched medical marijuana by not having an inclusive program that mirrored experienced jurisdictions,” Bondy said.

“We could have had a program with (marijuana) flower or edibles or strains of flowers being available, and we don’t have any of that all.”

Cannabis patient advocate Kate Hintz, 38, of North Salem, commended state regulators for continuing to relax regulations.

A cannabidiol oil has given her 6-year-old daughter, Morgan, relief from up to 40 epileptic seizures per day.

But, by Hintz's research, New York prices for that oil cost more than four times as much as comparable products in Canada and Colorado.

Hintz said New York's regulations drive up the cost of medical cannabis so much, “It's hard for me hear from so many patients that it’s still just completely unaffordable for them.”

daxelrod@th-record.com