When you’re a pet owner, you want the very best for your animal, and when your pet is sick or in pain, you want to give it the best treatment you can. Now, pet owners in New York could be on the verge of having a new “green” option for medicating their sick pets. If a new bill passes, this state could be the first to legalize cannabis for pets.
Medical Marijuana for Pets
New York Assemblywoman Amy Paulin recently proposed a bill to state lawmakers. Her idea is to make it legal for pet owners and veterinarians to give medical marijuana to pets who are ill or suffering from severe pain.
The proposal comes in large part as a response to the ongoing opioid crisis. In particular, many places in New York have prohibited vets from prescribing certain types of painkillers to pets. As a result, pet owners are often forced to use medications that are less effective and more expensive.
“We are either using other medications that may not be effective and maybe more costly for the client and we may have to give them higher dosage and more frequently,” veterinarian Susan Wylegala told news source WKBW Buffalo.
Assemblywoman Paulin thinks medical marijuana could be the solution. If her bill passes, vets and pet owners would be allowed to use medical marijuana to treat animals rather than relying on other types of non-opioid medications.
So far, Paulin does not have a co-sponsor for the bill. Similarly, it’s unclear exactly how medical marijuana would be administered to animals.
“We don’t have a lot of information on what conditions to use it for, what dosages are effective, what dosages are safe,” Wylegala said.