ALBANY (AP) - New York is inching toward legalizing some form of medical marijuana as support grows in the state Legislature and is likely to become one of a handful of issues taken up when lawmakers return later this month.

But it remains unclear where the drug would come from for either Gov. Andrew Cuomo's limited research program or broader, legalized use under a proposed medical marijuana bill.

Marijuana for clinical trials comes from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has a contract with the University of Mississippi to grow marijuana for studies, a spokeswoman for the Food and Drug Administration said.

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Albany, N. Y. (AP) - New York is inching toward legalizing some form of medical marijuana as support grows in the state Legislature and is likely to become one of a handful of issues taken up when lawmakers return later this month.

But it remains unclear where the drug would come from for either Gov. Andrew Cuomo's limited research program or broader, legalized use under a proposed medical marijuana bill.

Marijuana for clinical trials comes from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which has a contract with the University of Mississippi to grow marijuana for studies, a Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman said.

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Anyone who has seen the ravages of addiction knows how devastating it can be. Programs that can help combat that need our full support because in one way or another, addiction takes a toll on us all.

The latest epidemic is the opioid heroin. Opioid overdoses, including those from heroin, killed more than 2,000 New Yorkers in 2011 - double the number that died in 2004, according to the state attorney general's office. A main reason for its resurgence: Heroin is cheaper than the prescription drugs it often replaces. And plentiful.

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Alan Chartock's recent argument that New York lawmakers are "stuck in cement" regarding medical cannabis is completely true. But Mr. Chartock, unfortunately, gives readers the impression that cannabis is only helpful to people who are dying. That is flat-out wrong.

Opponents of the proposed Compassionate Care Act, the legislative fruit of more than 17 years' work by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, aim to deny a natural remedy that could alleviate pain and discomfort among hundreds of thousands of sick New Yorkers. People enduring all types of cancer, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, PTSD and numerous other ailments support the Compassionate Care Act.

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SPRING VALLEY A car used by drug dealers will now help educate young people against using drugs.

The black Chrysler PT Cruiser now carries the Spring Valley Police Department orange DARE logo, for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. The nationwide program involves police officers working with students to discourage substance abuse.

The Rockland County District Attorney's Office seized the four-door car during an investigation that led to multiple arrests, said Officer Francis Brooke, the department's DARE cop also assigned to Spring Valley High School as a school resource officer.

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In Many Cases, Insurance Won't Cover Rehab Costs

[Cumberland] EDITOR'S NOTE - The death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman underscored a troubling development: Heroin, long a scourge of the back alleys of American life, has spread across the country. Second of a three-part series.

NEW YORK - As the ranks of heroin users rise, increasing numbers of addicts are looking for help but are failing to find it - because there are no beds in packed facilities, treatment is hugely expensive and insurance companies won't pay for inpatient rehab.

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When I was a kid, I smoked weed a few times.

My use was just experimental and I never used it regularly because it made me sleepy. I envied my friends who enjoyed it. They always thought they danced better but really didn't and they laughed excessively at mundane questions like, "What time is it?"

During my middle adult years I smoked "ganja" once with a friend who insisted that I share her high. It wasn't really the kind of peer pressure you might be thinking about. She had stage four breast cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. I would have done almost anything she asked because I thought that she was going to die. Luckily she survived and after various treatments, she is well and thriving.

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Ever since Eric Holder became our chief law enforcement officer, I have described him as being Barack Obama's faithful vassal, who supports the president's defiling of the Constitution. But recently, there has been a valuable exception: Holder's call for reforming America's prison system, a topic I have repeatedly covered. Holder said the government needs to deal differently with the heroin epidemic than it did with the crack cocaine crisis decades ago.

As reported in multiple media outlets, the attorney general spoke to the American Bar Association in San Francisco last August. He was adamant about the state of America's prisons:

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Hungarian-American billionaire and philanthropist George Soros is no stranger when it comes to throwing around money, but the former hedge fund manager is making headlines over some major donations he's made to help legalize marijuana.

On the heels of the approval of two of the United States' first recreational laws in Colorado and Washington, other locales across the country are considering implementing policy changes that could decriminalize pot, ease penalties for users or eliminate weed laws altogether. Advocacy groups are leading the campaign to crush marijuana prohibition from coast-to-coast, and 83-year-old Soros is helping line the pockets of those making that push.

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In the wake of the death of a University of Rochester student that has gripped the campus and underscored the dangers of heroin, the university's president on Friday implored students who may be using drugs to seek treatment.

In a written statement issued to students and staff, Joel Seligman cited a recent university survey that found a small number of undergraduates have used heroin and urged them to "please get help."

"I want to make a special plea to the students, faculty, staff and others in our community with regard to heroin," Seligman said. "Heroin has killed. In too many cases, heroin has been adulterated in unpredictable ways whose baneful effects the user cannot anticipate. Please get help."

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Alan Chartock's recent argument that New York lawmakers are "stuck in cement" regarding medical cannabis is completely true. But Mr. Chartock, unfortunately, gives readers the impression that cannabis is only helpful to people who are dying. That is flat out wrong.

Opponents of the proposed Compassionate Care Act, the legislative fruit of more than 17 years' work by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan), aim to deny a natural remedy that could alleviate pain and discomfort among hundreds of thousands of sick New Yorkers. People enduring all types of cancer, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, PTSD, and numerous other ailments support the Compassionate Care Act.

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A Holtsville couple ran a heroin enterprise for at least a year out of the home they shared with up to 10 children until it was broken last month, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said Wednesday.

[name redacted], 27, and her husband, [name redacted], 57, ran the drug ring from their Holtsville home, which served as the "main distribution point" for pickups by dealers from Holbrook and at least six other Suffolk communities, authorities said.

"They participated, they encouraged and they sold to addicts whose lives were being destroyed . . . " Spota said at a news conference. "They destroyed the lives of the families of these addicts, and, of course, the people of Suffolk County were also suffering."

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My son Casey died of an opioid overdose in Westchester County on Labor Day 2012 when he was 24. No one gave him the antidote to the drug he had ingested. That antidote is naloxone, brand name Narcan.

Casey's death is part of an epidemic in this country that we are not acknowledging. Not only our minds, but also our laws and public policies have not caught up with what is a staggering new reality. Guess what kills more people: traffic accidents or accidental drug overdoses? The latter, though you wouldn't know it from our focus on speeding, well-engineered roads, reducing drunk driving and all the money we spend on traffic safety. Guess again; which epidemic has more deaths per year: HIV/AIDS or overdose? Again, the latter, with opioid overdose deaths alone more than double HIV/AIDS deaths in the U.S.

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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - As deaths from heroin and other opiate drugs rise throughout New York, state officials are planning to equip police with an antidote to reverse the effects of overdoses.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the Community Overdose Prevention program on Thursday, saying it will let every state and local law enforcement officer carry naloxone.

They will get kits containing two syringes filled with naloxone - also marketed under the brand name Narcan - two inhalers of the drug, sterile gloves and a booklet on using them. The cost of the kit is roughly $60. Each has a shelf life of about two years.

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The eventual legalization of marijuana may seem inevitable. But that doesn't mean advocates on both sides of the issue have stopped fighting for and against it.

Those who oppose legalization see the increased use and acceptance of marijuana by young people as the primary reason it shouldn't be legalized. After all, in Colorado it's available in kids' candies like gummy worms, which can't legally be sold or consumed by anyone under 18.

"What you have is an incredible drop in the perception of young people who see marijuana as bad," says Ben Cort, a recovering drug addict who led the fight against legalization in Colorado and is now a director of the Colorado Center for Addiction, Dependency and Rehabilitation in Aurora, Colo. He cites a recent study that says less than 40 percent of all young people in Colorado see marijuana as a bad thing.

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GOP in State Senate Taking a Big Step in Softening Opposition to Medical Pot

The shifting by the Republican conference in the State Senate on the topic of medical marijuana is remarkable, and can't come fast enough.

Otherwise, there will be more cases like that of Wendy S. Conte of Orchard Park. Conte recently set up residency in Colorado so that her 8-year-old daughter, Anna, could get access to that state's medical marijuana program.

Anna suffers from debilitating seizures. Her mother is not alone in going so far as to change legal residence in order to secure the treatment she believes will help her daughter.

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Marijuana misleads when they says it helps the sick, as they don't have to smoke pot. Positive medical components in marijuana can be obtained as prescription pills called Cannabidiol.

People don't need to smoke marijuana leaves for medical reasons. Most smokers can't seriously say they smoke it because they are sick. It is obvious that most people only want to get high.

The bad side of marijuana is established. It may not be as dangerous for some, but it is a threat to many. About 1 out of 6 young, consistent pot smokers have addictive problems.

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To the Editor:

"Pivotal Point Is Seen on Legalizing Marijuana" (front page, Feb. 27) plots the political present and future of marijuana legalization without a major data point: Americans' growing intolerance for the racial injustice embedded in the enforcement of marijuana prohibition.

Last June, we reported that a black person in this country is 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person, despite similar rates of use. The media has seized on appalling facts like these, pushing racial justice to the center of the debate over marijuana reform in Washington, D.C.; Portland, Me.; and elsewhere.

Director, Criminal Law Reform Project

American Civil Liberties Union

New York, Feb. 27, 2014

[end]

RAYMOND Yans is president of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the UN agency charged with monitoring the implementation of antidrug treaties. It is therefore not surprising that Yans takes a dim view of marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington, which he says poses "a grave danger to public health and well-being."

But according to the INCB, legalization isn't just dangerous; legalization is illegal. Even Americans who support marijuana prohibition should be troubled by the implications of that argument, which suggests that international treaties trump the Constitution.

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Parents Must Leave State to Help Stricken Children

ALBANY - Wendy S. Conte, of Orchard Park, returned from Colorado a few weeks ago after renting an apartment there, getting a Colorado driver's license and setting up residency.

"Officially, I'm a Colorado resident," she said.

The reason for Conte's new residency has nothing to do with frequently heard reasons for the New York exodus - evaporating job opportunities, high taxes or weather.

She took up the new residency so that her 8-year-old daughter, Anna, who suffers from lifelong debilitating seizures, can get access to that state's medical marijuana program.

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