The annual push for medicinal pot

New York can legalize medicinal marijuana without turning into California, Assemblyman Dick Gottfried promised this morning, announcing the bill would be brought to a vote in the Democrat-dominated chamber for a third time this year.

The Manhattan Democrat advanced the legislation through the Health Committee, which he chairs, on Tuesday. The bill has never come up for a vote in the state Senate, where Republicans hold a bare majority, but has passed the Assembly twice.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo had said he is opposed to legalizing medicinal pot, but then said he was “studying” the issue. Gottfried and Sen. Diane Savino, a Staten Island Democrat who carries the bill in the Senate, said they have indeed spoken to Cuomo’s aides.

Under the bill, Medicinal marijuana, which studies by the University of California at San Diego show is useful for coping with chronic pain, would be available to patients who receive a doctor’s prescription, which could only be issued for a “serious, debilitating or life-threatening” condition. Patients would then need to register with the state, which would issue a card allowing them to possess up to 2.5 ounces at a time.

Marijuana would be dispensed at hospitals or pharmacies, but New Yorkers who live more than 20 miles from a licensed distributor could grow their own.

“A doctor in New York can prescribe an Oxycodone or morphine or hundreds of other things without the law listing what it is prescribed for,” said Gottfried. “This would be one of the toughest and most restrictive medicinal marijuana laws in the country.”

Senate Republicans did not immediately say whether the bill would move in the chamber. Savino has just one formal co-sponsor, but said there is “significant support…in both parties” based on conversations with her colleagues.

  1. bill says:

    NY should model any laws based on what they do in California, they have the only laws that work. All medical marijuana laws enacted by legislatures don’t work as they’re far too restrictive. Just look at NJ for example, can’t even grow your own there.

    But until we get there, its still pretty easy to get on the street.

  2. Janet says:

    I think it is time for Andrew Cuomo to come out in support of working on a rational and compassionate way to regulate the drug trade. Its time to listen to the will of the people. There have been too many victims in the current system. The current laws and policies have pitted, the sick, the young, and others against the police and justice system in our communities. The problem is often we are the fathers, mothers, or neighbors, of these people, or maybe it is even our selves. Mothers and fathers around the world want you to know the ineffective laws are harming us and our children. There are too many broken hearts and families. It is time to fix the problem. This is too important of an issue to be partisan. Start with the best legislation you can get politically and then move from there.

  3. FWIW says:

    ASSemblyman Gottfried should not only be ashamed of himself, but he should also resign from being chair of the “health committee” if this is the best he can do. The fact that this is even being discussed is insane. MJ in smokable form is not safe, and never will be. There is no scientific evidence showing that it has any medicinal value, it is not safe and the FDA (you know, the agency that approves medicines in this country)has concluded that smoked MJ is harmful. (Duh) If MJ is such a magic medicine why don’t the proponents of medical MJ let MJ undergo the same standards that other prescription medications go through, the FDA can put it through proper scientific studies and the same approval process medicines go through. The answer, because everyone who wants legal MJ knows that it would never pass the rigors of real scientific study BECAUSE IT IS NOT SAFE AND IT IS NOT A MEDICINE!! Think about it, a smokeable safe medicine. since we know tobacco smoking causes death and disease what exactly is it that makes smoking MJ safe?

  4. Carl Jr. says:

    Free the Weed.

    Its time New York got back ahead of the curve.

    Free the Weed!

    Tax it, regulate it!

  5. woo says:

    Yeah cuomo is ‘studying’ it to see how much $$ he can extort out of Big Pharma …..

  6. woo says:

    If these pols could just walk a mile in an ill persons shoes, it would have been legalized decades ago.

  7. Janet says:

    I recognize some of these people as being weed smokers in their youth, and you see these guys at the bar, so the hypocrisy is stunning. But we all know politics is like prostitution, one will do just about anything for money and the guy paying. However 57% of New Yorkers want legalized medical marijuana and already 17 states have passed laws allowing it and already one third of the population live in those states. It is time for New York to join the ranks. My suggestion to people who don’t like weed is don’t use it, but in the meantime let the sick do so without fear of being a criminal. My real suggestion for Andrew and the legislators is don’t study “war” no more.

  8. Dale Gribble says:


  9. Hempopotamus says:

    The hemp plant should be legal for all it’s purposes. It’s time to reverse the injustice behind prohibiting a plant with over 5,000 years of use by civilization.

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