New York’s medical cannabis program is at a crossroads. Your voice and advocacy have never been more important. As the legislative session continues in Albany, the coming weeks will be a critical time to push for reforms to protect and expand access to high-quality, medical-grade cannabis.

This newsletter keeps you informed on key developments and highlights efforts to ensure that medical cannabis remains affordable, accessible, and effective. We appreciate your ongoing advocacy and look forward to working together to strengthen the program.

You’ll find more details about the pro-patient legislative agenda in the newsletter below, but we wanted to flag an important opportunity for you to take action. Unlike other traditional medications, medical cannabis in New York is still taxed. While that tax rate was reduced last year – a good step forward - it needs to be fully eliminated to ensure affordability to life-saving products.

Medical cannabis patients should not be treated like second-class citizens when it comes to medication tax policy. Tell lawmakers to support accessibility and affordability in the medical program by fully eliminating the excise tax.

Details: On March 5, patients, providers, advocates, and lawmakers gathered at the state Capitol to sound the alarm on the deterioration of New York’s medical cannabis program. They called on the Hochul administration and the Legislature to take immediate action to protect patients and ensure continued access to high-quality, medical-grade cannabis products.

Here is a link to the full press conference where NYMCIA leadership was joined by patients from around the state to tell their stories and emphasize the importance of medical cannabis at a press conference before a day of meetings with lawmakers. 

Why It Matters: Unlike adult-use consumers, patients depend on specialized, medical-grade products to manage chronic illnesses and severe conditions — many of which require precise formulations. Medical products have a higher testing standard than adult-use products, can be more potent or in other product forms, and have a lower tax rate. Trained pharmacists in medical dispensaries work with patients to find the right products and dosages to meet their unique needs.

Since 2021, New York's medical cannabis program has seen a sharp decline in registered patients, falling from 148,514 in March 2021 to just above 100,000 today.

Eleven medical dispensaries closed in the last year, leaving only 31 open statewide-far below the 80 dispensaries the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) allows.

Pediatric patients under 21 are among the most vulnerable, as they cannot legally access adult-use cannabis and rely on specialized medical products to manage severe conditions.

What Patients Are Saying:

“We must talk about our stories. We must share how this plant makes a difference in our life,” said Nikki Lawley, a Western New York medical cannabis patient and advocate. “At the end of the day, it’s not about getting high, it’s about getting well.”

“Access to medical cannabis has changed my life financially, physically, personally, and professionally,” said Sidney Sprink, a New York City resident and medical cannabis patient. “But options are far distances, and production is small but in high demand and competitive, creating unnecessary stress for patients.”

"I want safe, regulated access to plant based therapeutics so that others can be here in my shoes and tell their story,” said Elana Frankel, a medical cannabis patient, author, documentary filmmaker and White Plains resident. “I am privileged to stand with my fellow patients in order to really emphasize that this program is not just something that should exist, but must thrive, just like me.”

Katie Neer, head of NYMCIA, summed it up: “Today, we are highlighting patients — real life stories from real life New Yorkers who have been impacted positively by medical cannabis, but negatively by the challenges of this program. It's time for action.” The press conference was picked up by Spectrum broadcast news in local markets around the state as well as covered in newsletters or in articles the Times Union, Politico, Cultivated, and the Cannabis Business Times.

Details: NYMCIA is committed to advancing a pro-patient agenda that strengthens and expands New York’s medical cannabis program. Here is what advocates were fighting for in Albany:

Why This Matters: New York’s medical cannabis program remains one of the most restrictive in the country. As the adult-use cannabis market grows, the state must take bold steps to protect and expand the medical program to ensure all patients have access to high-quality, safe, medical-grade cannabis. 

Details: The number of medical dispensaries across the state has dwindled to just 31, leaving patients in underserved regions without reliable access to their medicine. As Ngiste Abebe, NYMCIA spokesperson, argued in a recent op-ed: "This decline is no accident — it’s the result of policy decisions that have made it nearly impossible for Registered Organizations (ROs) to sustain or grow their operations due to the prohibitively high license fee required to enter the adult-use market."

Abebe continued: “That fee — $20 million — is higher than what is charged by any other state. It is not established by law, but rather the result of the anti-RO ideology adopted by OCM’s previous leadership team. Ironically, the result of this misguided approach has prevented the ROs from funding equity programs and generating tax revenue that, by law, would be invested in communities disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.”

Why This Matters: New York has made strides in strengthening the adult-use cannabis market and cracking down on illicit operators, showing that progress is possible. Leadership changes at OCM under Gov. Hochul have provided a much-needed reset, injecting new energy into a regulatory body that has faced significant challenges.

But real reform requires more than just enforcement—it demands a commitment to fairness and sustainability. A more reasonable licensing fee, coupled with critical medical cannabis program reforms, would help stabilize the industry, support patient access, and create a balanced market where both adult-use consumers and medical patients can thrive.

The goal of this newsletter is to empower existing and prospective medical patients and adult-use consumers by giving you the resources and knowledge to effectively communicate your needs to policymakers, regulators, and elected officials in New York.

We will be in touch soon with more news and updates about New York’s cannabis programs. Thank you for your continued support in our mission to make medical cannabis more accessible and affordable for all patients.

Helping you stay up-to-date and act when necessary to protect and
expand access, affordability, and equity in the cannabis space.

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