Pubdate: Tue, 23 Mar 2010
Source: Ithaca Journal, The (NY)
Copyright: 2010, The Ithaca Journal
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/3wjE9bSn
Website: http://www.theithacajournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1098
Author: Cara Matthews

MEDICAL MARIJUANA OPTION GETS N.Y. SENATE PUSH

But Assembly Leader Doubts Budget Will Include Measure

ALBANY ? The Senate is making a renewed push to  legalize medical
marijuana in New York, hoping to make  it the 16th state to legalize
the drug for patients  with serious, debilitating or life-threatening
illnesses.

The Assembly passed a medical-marijuana bill twice in  recent years,
but the Senate did not. Legislation that  would legalize its use
passed a key Senate committee  Tuesday, and the same bill is making
its way through  the Assembly committee process.

"This bill is about compassion for people who have  horrible cancer,
HIV/AIDS, Crohn's disease.... This  really is for desperate people,"
Assembly Health  Committee Chairman Tom Duane, D-Manhattan, said
before  the bill was reported out of the Senate Codes Committee
Tuesday by a vote of 11-5.

At the same time, the Senate included the legalization  of marijuana
for medical purposes in its budget  resolution Monday. The Senate
estimates that basic  processing and administrative fees would bring
in about  $15 million in the 2010-11 budget year, which begins  April
1.

If a tax were placed on medical marijuana, that could  raise up to
$500 million a year, according to Senate  estimates.

But Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said  Tuesday he
didn't expect medical-marijuana legislation  to be part of the 2010-11
budget.

"I don't believe we're going to have it in," he said.  "We passed a
bill as a standalone in the past, so I  didn't look at it as a revenue
raiser, per se."

Gov. David Paterson is waiting for more details on the  budget
proposal before commenting on the issue,  spokesman Morgan Hook said.

Under the legislative bill, a licensed practitioner  would certify
that a patient has a serious condition  that should be treated with
marijuana. Patients would  register with the state Health Department
and obtain  the drug through licensed dispensaries. Patients could
not possess more than 2.5 ounces of it at any time.

Restrictive bill cited

Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried,  D-Manhattan,
said New York's law would be the most  restrictive in the nation, both
in terms of the  conditions for which a physician could certify its
use  and who could produce and sell it.

Gottfried, who first introduced legislation to legalize  medical use
of marijuana in 1997, said at news  conference held by pro-medical
marijuana group New York  Patients First that it has taken a long time
for public  support to build and even longer for lawmakers to  "catch
up with the public."

A Quinnipiac University poll in February found that 71  percent of New
York voters support legalizing medical  marijuana. Fifty percent of
voters polled by the Siena  Research Institute last week supported
marijuana for  medical use.

There was doubt that the state could license  dispensaries until about
a year ago, when the Obama  administration said it would not interfere
with state  laws on medical marijuana, Gottfried said.

"There are thousands of New Yorkers who have a serious  condition
whose life could be made better, more  comfortable, healthier, longer
by the medical use of  marijuana," he said.

California was the first state to legalize the medical  use of
marijuana 14 years ago. Since then, 14 other  states have passed
similar laws, according to the  National Conference of State
Legislatures.

Sen. Dale Volker, R-DePew, Erie County, said during  Tuesday's Codes
Committee meeting that he opposed the  bill because it would cause the
illegal use of  marijuana to spread. He said pot is more dangerous
than  people realize and is an "access" drug for heroin and  other
illegal drugs.

Sen. Martin Golden, R-Brooklyn, said he doesn't want  people to
suffer, but there should be more safeguards  in the bill.

Leba London, a nurse from Swan Lake, Sullivan County,  said at the New
York Patients First event that she  doesn't think lawmakers would have
the same opinion if  they had a friend or family member whose pain
could be  relieved by marijuana.

"It's really time for the close-minded senators to take  themselves
out of the dark ages here and release us  from the gallows," she said.

Opiates prescribed for pain are good as a short-term  solution only,
and they can be addictive and cause side  effects, London said. The
only side effect for  marijuana "is living with the fear of going to
prison,"  said London, whose conditions include fibromyalgia,  severe
osteoarthritis and degeneration of the lower  spine.

Other states that have legalized the medical use of marijuana:

*Alaska

*California

*Colorado

*Hawaii

*Maine

*Maryland

*Michigan

*Montana

*Nevada

*New Jersey

*New Mexico

*Oregon

*Rhode Island

*Vermont

*Washington

Source: National Conference of State Legislatures. 
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