ALBANY — Nearly three months into the launch of the state’s medical marijuana program, the Cuomo administration estimates that roughly half of the patients deemed eligible have received the drug, a Department of Health spokesman told POLITICO New York.

The so-called Compassionate Care Act kicked off in early January with several dispensaries not opening in time for the launch date. But the registered organizations charged with growing and selling medical marijuana say they were expecting the trickle of customers to start, rather than a flood, and that they are now seeing an increasing number of patients.

Since early January, the state estimates 2,039 patients have been certified by their doctors to be eligible for medical marijuana. About 1,000 of those patients, according to the Department of Health, have obtained the drug.

But even as the access seems to improve for those who qualify for the program, advocates, as well as the lawmakers who sponsored the initial medical marijuana legislation, continue to argue patients struggle unnecessarily to find doctors who can prescribe the drug. [Read more at Politico]