Administering the cannabidiol oil safely

New York State’s medical marijuana program, the Compassionate Care Act, which began in January of 2015 provides patients suffering from certain health conditions such as cancer, HIV, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease) or seizure disorders with cannabidiol oil to help alleviate their symptoms.

However, an oversight in regulations prevented the staffs at residential facilities and group homes from administering the drug to patients who could benefit. Only the patient’s caregiver, typically their parent could give them the treatment.

On Oct. 19, State Assemblywoman Melissa Miller (R-Atlantic Beach) held a news conference to announce that the Department of Health has amended the rules.
Miller has been an advocate for medical marijuana since learning the cannabidiol oil could help manage her son Oliver’s, 17, severe epilepsy. The treatment drastically reduced the amount of daily seizures that Oliver would have, and

Miller was thankful the Department of Health was able to step in to allow other patients receive the same level of care as her son. “If we tried to go about doing this legislatively it was something that was going to take a long time,” she said. That upset me as a parent and frustrated me, that just isn’t fair.”

James Mulvaney, an advocate in the autism community, joined Miller at the event with his son Dan, 30. Dan has autism and has lived in a residential facility in Baldwin for the past eight years. People with autism are more susceptible to having seizures and after Dan suffered one in May of 2016 a doctor recommended medical marijuana.

But the employees at Dan’s home weren’t legally allowed to give him the cannabidiol oil, even though they can administer painkillers like Oxycotin or benzodiazepines such as Xanax. Mulvaney would have had to drive to Baldwin from his home in Long Beach several times a day to give Dan his medicine before this change went into effect on Oct. 5.

Suzanne Reek, the executive director of the Nassau Suffolk Chapter of the Autism Society of America spoke about this issue as well. She was attending not as the executive director but as the mother of a child, Joseph, who also has autism and epilepsy. Her son’s home is in Lido Beach, but the commitment of having to give him every dose everyday was just too much. “You think about, can I go on vacation?,” Reek said. “Can I go away for a weekend? And you really can’t.”

Mulvaney believes that the group homes are even better equipped to handle the cannabidiol oil. “The group home has a safe where all the drugs are kept, so it’s not like anyone could break in … it’s probably more secure than your house,” he said.

Before the new regulations, the families’ loophole was hiring a caretaker to give the patient the oil, but that added to the cost of care. Miller said she spends around $600 a month on Oliver’s oil, she doesn’t believe it’s fair that it was held to another standard that could cost families even more. “New York has acknowledged this is a medicine,” she said, “it should be administered like any other medicine.”