Members of the state’s Cannabis Control Board advanced regulations on Thursday that, for the first time, explicitly permit qualified patients to home cultivate marijuana.

The proposed rules, which must undergo a 60-day public comment period, permit the cultivation of up to six cannabis plants per private residence. The regulations will take effect once the public comment period has ended and the Board has finalized its language.

New York’s medical cannabis access law, signed in 2014, was initially among the most restrictive in the nation. It prohibited qualified patients from accessing herbal formulations of cannabis from licensed dispensaries and it forbid patients and/or their caregivers from growing marijuana at home. It also severely limited the number of licensed producers and retailers that can operate in the state.

In 2017, the Department of Health licensed additional medical cannabis providers and earlier this year, regulators announced that state-licensed dispensaries could immediately begin providing registered patients with access to medical cannabis flowers.

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