Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 2009
Source: Star-Gazette (NY)
Copyright: 2009sStar-Gazette
Contact:  http://www.stargazette.com/
Author: Cara Matthews
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

DEMOCRATS SET TO FIGHT FOR N.Y. MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

ALBANY - Legalization of marijuana for medical use may have a shot at 
legislative approval this year because Democrats, who now control the 
Senate and Assembly, are sponsoring identical bills on the issue.

State Senate Health Committee Chairman Thomas Duane and state 
Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, both Manhattan 
Democrats, are backing the legislation, which would allow patients to 
have up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and 12 mature plants.

"There are thousands of New Yorkers with serious debilitating, 
life-threatening, painful ailments who would benefit from the medical 
use under physician supervision ... of marijuana," Gottfried said 
Tuesday. "The medical science is very clear and very well established 
that there are many patients for whom marijuana will ameliorate their 
symptoms or help them to tolerate their treatment, where other 
medications do not work."

Thirteen other states have legalized marijuana, and legislation is 
under consideration in New Jersey, New Hampshire and other states, 
Gottfried said. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said the 
government will respect state laws on medical marijuana with regard 
to enforcement, Gottfried said. In the past, federal law enforcement 
has shut down dispensaries for medical marijuana because pot is an 
illegal drug.

"This is about compassion. This is about medicine. This isn't about 
politics," Duane said.

Marijuana has been used to relieve nausea, increase appetite, reduce 
muscle spasms and reduce chronic pain in patients with debilitating 
illnesses like AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma.

Duane said he believes the legislation enjoys broad bipartisan 
support in the Senate, where there are 32 Democrats and 30 Republicans.

Republicans, who outnumbered Democrats from 1965 until this year, 
previously blocked any legalization bill from moving forward. There 
has been Republican support in the past for limited use of pot by 
allowing state-regulated growers to produce it and licensed 
dispensaries to distribute it.

The Assembly, where Democrats hold the overwhelming majority of 
seats, passed the legislation in 2007 and 2008.

Duane said allowing patients to grow their own pot is a simpler way 
to provide access than dispensaries. Patients would need a doctor's 
recommendation to possess and use marijuana.

If the bill passes both houses, Gov. David Paterson will seek input 
from interested parties before acting, spokesman Errol Cockfield said.

People who oppose medical marijuana think it could increase drug 
abuse and crime. The state Conservative Party believes legalizing it 
would send the wrong message to society, chairman Mike Long said.

"We have enough trouble with the use of prescription drugs without 
adding another one to it," he said, adding there are plenty of drugs 
available currently to relieve pain.

If people are allowed to grow it in their homes, children and others 
in the house may gain access to it, Long said.

Assemblyman Joel Miller, R-Poughkeepsie, said the time has come for 
New York to legalize medical marijuana.

"To me it's absolutely amazing that we would deny people the benefit 
of a drug simply because it also has some other impact on the 
community," said Miller, a dentist. "The people who need it are not 
going to be using it recreationally. They're going to use it so they 
can some standard of life and everyone deserves that."

The legislation would require plants to be kept in a secure, locked 
enclosure. It includes provisions for the state Department of Health 
to give permits to dispensaries, pending certification by the federal 
government that this could be done without federal prosecution.

Supporters of the legislation include the state Medical Society, the 
New York State Nurses Association and a long list of other groups, 
Gottfried said.

A 2007 Mason-Dixon poll commissioned by the Marijuana Policy Project 
surveyed 500 New York voters in several upstate Senate districts and 
found that between 61 percent and 76 percent of them were in favor of 
allowing seriously ill patients to use marijuana if it was 
recommended by their physician. The Marijuana Policy Project also 
promotes legalization of marijuana for general use.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom