Pubdate: Thu, 12 Nov 2015 Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI) Copyright: 2015 Star Advertiser Contact: http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154 GOVERNOR SIGNS 2 BILLS FOR MEDICAL POT USAGE In a surprising move, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed two bills Wednesday to establish an "emergency medical marijuana" program for qualified patients, two months before the planned debut of a statewide program providing for medical use of the drug. The governor's signature effectively accelerates the first distribution of medical marijuana in the state since the passage of a 2014 law that added New York to a list of nearly two dozen other states where the drug is now available for sick patients. Under the bills, passed earlier this year, the state Health Department is to set up a separate program to "create an expedited pathway" to qualified patients whose lack of access to the drug "would pose a serious risk" to their lives. Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement accompanying his signatures that he "deeply sympathized with New Yorkers suffering from serious illness, and I appreciate that medical marijuana may alleviate their chronic pain and debilitating symptoms." The governor did not initially embrace the bills, saying around the time of their passage that they would simply be reviewed. - --- New York Times - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom