Governor Cuomo has asked Acting State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker if there's a way to speed up access to medical marijuana to children with epilepsy.
This follows the recent deaths of two Western New York girls who struggled with the neurological disorder.
A local epilepsy service organization says it has had inquiries from clients about medical marijuana.
"There are a number of families in our region who have expressed an interest in medical marijuana and have turned to us asking what we think, what information we have. There is at least one family that we know of who are having their child treated with medical marijuana through a neurologist in Colorado," said Carolyn Parr Slack, chief development officer for Epilepsy Pralid. She says that family has reported an improvement in their child's symptoms since they started treatment with medical marijuana.
Slack says many of the commonly prescribed epilepsy medications have troublesome side effects and parents of children who have a severe form of the disorder may be willing to try anything to help their child.
State officials have said it could take 18 months to implement the program that makes medical marijuana available to patients eligible under the Compassionate Care Act.
