Criminal diversion of medical cannabis in the first degree · as in force on May 31, 2026
* § 179.10 Criminal diversion of medical cannabis in the first degree.
A person is guilty of criminal diversion of medical cannabis in the first degree when he or she is a practitioner, as that term is defined in section three of the cannabis law, who issues a certification with knowledge of reasonable grounds to know that (i) the recipient has no medical need for it, or (ii) it is for a purpose other than to treat a condition as defined in section three of the cannabis law.
Criminal diversion of medical cannabis in the first degree is a class E felony.
* NB Repealed July 5, 2028
A practitioner, as defined in Cannabis Law § 3, commits first-degree criminal diversion of medical cannabis by issuing a certification while knowing or having reasonable grounds to know that the recipient has no medical need for it or that it is for a purpose other than treating a condition defined in Cannabis Law § 3. ★ It is a class E felony. This section is repealed July 5, 2028.
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.