AN ACT REQUIRING CERTAIN HEALTH CARE FACILITIES TO ALLOW TERMINALLY ILL QUALIFYING PATIENTS TO USE CANNABIS.

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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5242
February Session, 2026 LCO No. 1586

Referred to Committee on PUBLIC HEALTH

Introduced by:
(PH)

AN ACT REQUIRING CERTAIN HEALTH CARE FACILITIES TO
ALLOW TERMINALLY ILL QUALIFYING PATIENTS TO USE
CANNABIS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2026) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "Cannabis" means marijuana, as defined in section 21a -240 of the 2
general statutes; 3
(2) "Health care facility" means a (A) hospital or nursing home, as 4
such terms are defined in section 19a-490 of the general statutes, or (B) 5
hospice inpatient facility or short-term hospital special hospice, licensed 6
pursuant to chapter 368v of the general statutes; 7
(3) "Qualifying patient" means a "qualifying patient", as defined in 8
section 21a -408 of the general statutes , who (A) has obtained a valid 9
certificate of registration pursuant to subsection (a) of section 21a-408d 10
of the general statutes, and (B) is terminally ill; and 11
(4) "Terminally ill " means a medical condition resulting in a 12

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prognosis of life of one year or less, if the disease follows its natural 13
course, as certified in writing, by a qualifying patient's attending 14
physician, as defined in section 19a-570 of the general statutes. 15
(b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, health care 16
facility shall allow a qualifying patient to use cannabis within the health 17
care facility and shall: 18
(1) Prohibit smoking or vaping as methods to use cannabis; 19
(2) Include the use of cannabis within a qualifying patient's medical 20
records; 21
(3) Require a qualifying patient to provide a copy of a qualifying 22
patient's certificate of registration, issued pursuant to subsection (a) of 23
section 21a-408d of the general statutes; 24
(4) Reasonably restrict the manner in which a qualifying patient 25
stores and uses cannabis, including, but not limited to, requiring the 26
cannabis to be stored in a locked container, to ensure the safety of other 27
patients, guests and employees of the health care facility, in compliance 28
with other provisions of the general statutes and the safe operations of 29
the health care facility; and 30
(5) Develop and disseminate written guidelines for the use of 31
cannabis by qualifying patients within the health care facility. 32
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, a qualifying 33
patient receiving emergency care shall not be permitted to use cannabis 34
while the qualifying patient is receiving emergency care. 35
(d) (1) If a federal regulatory agency, the United States Department 36
of Justice or the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 37
takes one of the following actions, a health care facility may suspend 38
compliance with the provisions of this section until the regulatory 39
agency, the United States Department of Justice or the federal Centers 40
for Medicare and Medicaid Services notifies the health care facility that 41

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it may resume permitting qualifying patients' use of cannabis within the 42
facility: 43
(A) A federal regulatory agency or the United States Department of 44
Justice initiates enforcement action against a health care facility related 45
to the facility's compliance with the provisions of this section. 46
(B) A federal regulatory agency, the United States Department of 47
Justice or the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issues 48
a rule or otherwise provides notification to the health care facility that 49
expressly prohibits the use of cannabis in health care facilities or 50
otherwise prohibits compliance with the provisions of this section. 51
(2) The provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to permit 52
a health care facility to prohibit qualifying patient use of cannabis due 53
solely to the fact that cannabis is a schedule I controlled substance 54
pursuant to the federal Controlled Substances Act, or other federal 55
constraints on the use of cannabis that were in existence prior to October 56
1, 2026. 57
Sec. 2. Section 21a -422m of the general statutes is repealed and the 58
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 59
As used in this section, "hospital" has the same meaning as provided 60
in section 19a-490 and "cannabis" has the same meaning as provided in 61
section 21a -420. [No] Except as provided in section 1 of this act, no 62
hospital shall be required to allow a patient to use cannabis while at such 63
hospital. A hospital may have a policy that sets forth restrictions 64
patients shall follow regarding cannabis use. 65
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:

Section 1 October 1, 2026 New section
Sec. 2 October 1, 2026 21a-422m

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Statement of Purpose:
To require certain health care facilities to allow terminally ill qualifying
patients to use medical marijuana.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]