NEW YORK, July 08, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MarijuanaDoctors.com is pleased to announce that patients who live in New York are now one step closer in getting access to medical marijuana. As of June 6th, patients will be able to go a medical clinic in Flatbush, Brooklyn to be evaluated and establish a bona fide doctor/patient relationship with a doctor who is willing to write a medical marijuana recommendation under New York State’s medical marijuana program, once the physicians have received the required training.
A.F. Medical and Rehabilitation of Flatbush is the first physician’s office in the state to be publicly listed online or any other medium. The clinic has been seeing patients for over three years for ailments related to internal medicine, pediatrics, pain management, physical therapy and podiatry. The addition of medical marijuana evaluations will serve both their existing patients and new patients. It will be the first clinic of its kind in the state.
In a recent survey conducted by MarijuanaDoctors.com, it was discovered that only 1 out of 500 New York physicians said they would be willing to write a medical cannabis certification to a qualifying patient. With only 78,362 doctors in the state of New York, this leaves a projected market cap of approximately 157 Physicians supporting the state population of over 19 million people who may be interested in entering into this legal state program.
When asked the reason for the lack of interest, MarijuanaDoctors.com Chief Operating Officer and co-owner John Nicolazzo commented that “The lack of education will hinder any medical professional from taking this industry seriously. This is why we are reaching out to over 100 New York doctors daily, and letting them know of their legal right to recommend cannabis to patients that qualify under state law. In an effort to fast track the process, we have also made the executive decision to start listing doctors that are requesting to work with us now here in New York, instead of waiting until the required training is complete. Patients can start visiting Marijuana Doctors.com now, to schedule an appointment and to build the bona-fide relationship with the physician in our network. Again, this is to establish a bona-fide relationship and not to issue a medical cannabis recommendation, at least not yet anyway.”
Patients have been making their first appointments with the clinic since Monday. “We are incredibly excited to be able to provide this kind of help and add it to our many other services,” says practice manager Rosie Bogati. “The patients who have been calling to schedule the appointments with us have been wonderful and we look forward to helping them.”
Dr. Leonid Isakov, MD FAAP is the medical director for the clinic with twenty-five plus years in medicine. “Patients will be able to have a proper evaluation and understand the benefits and risks with medical marijuana,” says the medical director. Dr. Hiralal Aswani, who specializes in Internal Medicine, will be the doctor on staff that will be giving patients a full evaluation.
The new medical cannabis clinic will be receiving their patients from MarijuanaDoctors.com. The partnership between the clinic and the MarijuanaDoctors.com portal will facilitate the process for both the patients and clinic staff. MarijuanaDoctors.com has been an industry leader in connecting patients to doctors willing to recommend marijuana.
A.F. Medical’s announcement comes at a moment when the state’s mechanisms for the program are being put in place. “The timing couldn’t be better being that the businesses that have applied for licenses to cultivate in New York are set to be announced shortly from the state’s Health Department," says John. “So far, 16 of the 43 that have applied to be a producer have contacted us in regards to working together."
Patients who are being evaluated are establishing a bona fide doctor/patient relationship as outlined in the Compassionate Care Act. Doctors will not be able to write a medical cannabis recommendation until they complete the training to do so. The State of New York has yet to provide that curriculum. In the interim, patients do need to begin to build that established relationship with a doctor who will begin the process to certify patients for the medical marijuana program.
“We are providing this service in order to help the people who truly need this medicine,” says Rosie. “There are people who desperately need medical cannabis and we want to ensure that no one is denied access to this program.”
*DISCLAIMER –The doctor and/or clinic cannot write a medical cannabis certification letter until training is complete. Patients must be evaluated by a doctor willing to recommend medical marijuana in order to establish a bona fide doctor/patient relationship in order to begin the process towards their medical cannabis certification for the State of New York.
For further inquiries related to this article or to schedule an interview with A.F. Medical and Rehabilitation of Flatbush or MarijuanaDoctors.com, please contact;
Carlos R. Valderrama
(213) 261-4862
carlos@medicalcannabis.net