* § 3361. Certification of patients. 1. A patient certification may
only be issued if: (a) a practitioner has been registered with the
department to issue a certification as determined by the commissioner;
(b) the patient has a serious condition, which shall be specified in the
patient's health care record; (c) the practitioner by training or
experience is qualified to treat the serious condition; (d) the patient
is under the practitioner's continuing care for the serious condition;
and (e) in the practitioner's professional opinion and review of past
treatments, the patient is likely to receive therapeutic or palliative
benefit from the primary or adjunctive treatment with medical use of
marihuana for the serious condition.

2. The certification shall include (a) the name, date of birth and
address of the patient; (b) a statement that the patient has a serious
condition and the patient is under the practitioner's care for the
serious condition; (c) a statement attesting that all requirements of
subdivision one of this section have been satisfied; (d) the date; and
(e) the name, address, federal registration number, telephone number,
and the handwritten signature of the certifying practitioner. The
commissioner may require by regulation that the certification shall be
on a form provided by the department. The practitioner may state in the
certification that, in the practitioner's professional opinion, the
patient would benefit from medical marihuana only until a specified
date. The practitioner may state in the certification that, in the
practitioner's professional opinion, the patient is terminally ill and
that the certification shall not expire until the patient dies.

3. In making a certification, the practitioner shall consider the form
of medical marihuana the patient should consume, including the method of
consumption and any particular strain, variety, and quantity or
percentage of marihuana or particular active ingredient, and appropriate
dosage. The practitioner shall state in the certification any
recommendation or limitation the practitioner makes, in his or her
professional opinion, concerning the appropriate form or forms of
medical marihuana and dosage.

4. Every practitioner shall consult the prescription monitoring drug
program registry prior to making or issuing a certification, for the
purpose of reviewing a patient's controlled substance history. For
purposes of this section, a practitioner may authorize a designee to
consult the prescription monitoring program registry on his or her
behalf, provided that such designation is in accordance with section
thirty-three hundred forty-three-a of this article.

5. The practitioner shall give the certification to the certified
patient, and place a copy in the patient's health care record.

6. No practitioner shall issue a certification under this section for
himself or herself.

7. A registry identification card based on a certification shall
expire one year after the date the certification is signed by the
practitioner.

8. (a) If the practitioner states in the certification that, in the
practitioner's professional opinion, the patient would benefit from
medical marihuana only until a specified earlier date, then the registry
identification card shall expire on that date;

(b) If the practitioner states in the certification that in the
practitioner's professional opinion the patient is terminally ill and
that the certification shall not expire until the patient dies, then the
registry identification card shall state that the patient is terminally
ill and that the registration card shall not expire until the patient
dies;

(c) If the practitioner re-issues the certification to terminate the
certification on an earlier date, then the registry identification card
shall expire on that date and shall be promptly returned by the
certified patient to the department;

(d) If the certification so provides, the registry identification card
shall state any recommendation or limitation by the practitioner as to
the form or forms of medical marihuana or dosage for the certified
patient; and

(e) The commissioner shall make regulations to implement this
subdivision.

9.(a) A certification may be a special certification if, in addition
to the other requirements for a certification, the practitioner
certifies in the certification that the patient's serious condition is
progressive and degenerative or that delay in the patient's certified
medical use of marihuana poses a serious risk to the patient's life or
health.

(b) The department shall create the form to be used for a special
certification and shall make that form available to be downloaded from
the department's website.

* NB Repealed July 5, 2028 and Repealed 6 months after the full
cannabis control board created by Article 2 of the cannabis law has been
appointed