NEW YORK -In honor of Veterans Day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Saturday signed legislation allowing medicinal marijuana to be used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
The bill allows military veterans, police officers and firefighters, as well as survivors of domestic violence, access to the state’s burgeoning marijuana dispensary system.
“Many of our veterans are suffering from PTSD and the medical community has determined that marijuana can be a helpful treatment in some areas,” Cuomo said during Saturday’s Veterans Day parade on Fifth Ave. “And part of our commitment to do everything we can do if there are veterans who are suffering and we can make a treatment available, we want to.”
Medical marijuana is legal in New York for a handful of serious ailments and conditions, including cancer, HIV and AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and some spinal injuries.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed five pieces of legislation to further support New York veterans by improving healthcare and services, as well as memorialize veterans throughout New York State in a number of different ways. The package includes:
- Adding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a qualifying condition in New York’s medical marijuana program;
- Providing combat veterans employed by the State with additional days of paid leave to obtain health services, counseling and access to other benefits;
- Waiving the civil service examination fee for veterans who were honorably discharged;
- Requiring the Department of State and Division of Military and Naval Affairs to maintain a public list of all not-for-profit corporations that solicit funds for the armed forces of the United States; and
- Directing the Office of General Services to set aside a publicly accessible location within the State Capitol building for a POW/MIA chair and plaque to honor those veterans who have not yet returned home.