Slow start for NY’s strict medical marijuana plan

white plains, n.y.» When medical marijuana became available this month in New York, Brittany Barger was one of the first patients to navigate the state’s rules and make it through a dispensary door.

“When you’re as sick as I am, you’ll try anything,” said Barger, who has ovarian cancer that has spread through her 27-year-old body.

New York’s program — one of the strictest out of the 23 states that allow medical marijuana — has had a widely anticipated slow beginning, but there are signs it is gaining momentum.

The state Health Department says more than 165 patients have now qualified, a figure that has more than doubled in a week but is still just a sliver of the potential patient pool. More than 225 doctors have now taken the state-required training, up from about 150 last week.

Seven of the eight dispensaries that opened around the state Jan. 7 have seen patients, sometimes more than anticipated, or have appointments scheduled, operators say.

The Health Department is “extremely pleased” with the program’s launch, spokesman JP O’Hare said.

Still, some would-be patients say they’re stymied, unable to get access to any of the doctors prepared to see them. The state hasn’t released physicians’ names, although a few have announced themselves publicly. The Health Department said this week it would soon give a list to practitioners, though not to the public, citing security concerns.

While some other states’ medical marijuana programs also have faced questions about accessibility, New York is one of the few states to require physician training. New York also allows only cannabis extracts in pills and liquids, not pot in joints or brownies, a provision echoed only in Minnesota. And New York’s 10 qualifying illnesses also exclude some conditions other states allow, such as chronic pain in itself.

While some doctors are supportive of medical marijuana, others are concerned about a drug that remains illegal under federal law and fear patients might abuse the system to get it, says Dr. Michael T. Goldstein, an ophthalmologist and president of the New York County Medical Society, a Manhattan physicians’ group.

Dr. Margaret Lewin, a Manhattan primary care physician, is taking a middle path. She plans to take the course to learn about the products, but not to prescribe them, as she thinks specialists will become experts on them. But she’ll consider referring people to such doctors “once I’m more knowledgeable.”