After years of stalled attempts, New York State has legalized the use of recreational marijuana, enacting a robust program that will reinvest millions of dollars of tax revenues from cannabis in minority communities ravaged by the decades-long war on drugs. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the cannabis legislation on Wednesday, a day after the State Legislature passed the bill following hours of debate among lawmakers in Albany. New York became the 15th state to legalize the recreational use of cannabis, positioning itself to quickly become one of the largest markets of legal cannabis in the nation and one of the few states where legalization is directly tied to economic and racial equity. [continues 1467 words]
State lawmakers finalized a deal on Thursday to legalize recreational marijuana in New York, paving the way for a potential $4.2 billion industry that could create tens of thousands of jobs and become one of the largest markets in the country. Following several failed attempts, lawmakers in Albany struck an agreement with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older, a move that officials hope will help end years of racially disproportionate policing that saw Black and Hispanic people arrested on low-level marijuana charges far more frequently than white people. [continues 1462 words]
ALBANY, N.Y.-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that he would amend his proposal to regulate and tax recreational marijuana in hopes that the drug could be legalized as part of the state budget due by April 1. The amended proposal would allow for delivery services and reduce the penalty for people who unlawfully sell marijuana to a person under the age of 21. It would also add specificity to a social-equity fund that the Democratic governor said would help revitalize communities that have been most harmed by the war on drugs. He said the amendments reflected conversations with lawmakers. [continues 374 words]
Police officers can often justify a search with six words: "I smelled an odor of marijuana." Courts in New York have long ruled if a car smells like marijuana smoke, the police can search it - and, according to some judges, even the occupants - without a warrant. But in late July, a judge in the Bronx said in a scathing opinion that officers claim to smell marijuana so often that it strains credulity, and she called on judges across the state to stop letting police officers get away with lying about it. [continues 1256 words]
Even as states across the country have legalized marijuana, potentially opening the door to a multibillion dollar industry, the impact of marijuana criminalization is still being felt by people - mostly black and Hispanic - whose records are marked by low-level convictions related to the drug. But on Wednesday, New York began the process of expunging many of those records, as part of a new state law to reduce penalties associated with marijuana-related crimes, a spokesman for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo confirmed. [continues 780 words]
New York has decriminalised the use of marijuana - becoming the 16th US state to do so. The move, which would make possession of a small amount of the drug a violation rather than a felony, was signed into law by governor Andrew Cuomo. The measure also demands that criminal records of offences linked to low-level marijuana cases either be marked as expunged, or destroyed - an apparent reflection that in the past communities of colour suffered unduly from different application of the law. [continues 231 words]
ALBANY - New York's plan to legalize marijuana this year collapsed on Wednesday, dashing hopes for a potential billion-dollar industry that supporters said would create jobs in minority communities and end decades of racially disproportionate policing. Democratic lawmakers had been in a headlong race to finalize an agreement before the end of the legislative session this week. But persistent disagreement about how to regulate the industry, as well as hesitation from moderate lawmakers, proved insurmountable. "It is clear now that M.R.T.A. is not going to pass this session," Senator Liz Krueger of Manhattan said in a statement on Wednesday morning, using an acronym for the legalization bill she had sponsored. "We came very close to crossing the finish line, but we ran out of time." [continues 806 words]
Dr. James S. Ketchum, an Army psychiatrist who in the 1960s conducted experiments with LSD and other powerful hallucinogens using volunteer soldiers as test subjects in secret research on chemical agents that might incapacitate the minds of battlefield adversaries, died on May 27 at his home in Peoria, Ariz. He was 87. His wife, Judy Ketchum, confirmed the death on Monday, adding that the cause had not been determined. Decades before a convention eventually signed by more than 190 nations outlawed chemical weapons, Dr. Ketchum argued that recreational drugs favored by the counterculture could be used humanely to befuddle small units of enemy troops, and that a psychedelic "cloud of confusion" could stupefy whole battlefield regiments more ethically than the lethal explosions and flying steel of conventional weapons. [continues 1413 words]
Tens of thousands of low-level marijuana convictions could be erased with the OK of Brooklyn's top prosecutor, under a new plan for wiping records clean of offenses no longer being prosecuted in parts of the nation's biggest city. District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Friday he is inviting people to request conviction dismissals. He expects prosecutors will consent in the great majority of a potential 20,000 cases since 1990 and an unknown number of older ones. To Gonzalez, whose office has stopped prosecuting most cases involving people accused of having small amounts of pot, it's only right to nix convictions that wouldn't be pursued now. [continues 491 words]
A few years ago when I served on the board of the co-op building where I live in Brooklyn Heights - a fact suggesting a degree of squareness so profound it should discredit my authority to go on - my next-door neighbor came to me with recurring complaints that her apartment, at various points, but mostly in the evenings, reeked of pot (that, children, is what we of the Atari generation call it) so intensely that it seemed as if someone had come in and lit up right on her sofa. That her oldest daughter began to worry that she was getting a contact high while she was doing her homework made me despair for a generation and suggested that perhaps a certain unwarranted hysteria had taken hold. Then one night, at a moment of extreme fragrancy, my neighbor texted and asked me to come over and take a sniff for myself, and it seemed as if I had walked into a commune in the Redwoods sometime between the Tet offensive and the presidency of Gerald Ford. [continues 772 words]
New York City's Police Department suffered a major embarrassment this spring when a New York Times investigation demolished the department's claim that people of color were more likely than others to be arrested on petty marijuana charges, because citizens in their communities complained more about pot smoking. The investigation found that even when complaints were factored in, the police nearly always arrested people at a higher rate in black areas. A new policy Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday will lead to fewer people being arrested for smoking marijuana in public. But the new approach - in which officers would usually issue summonses instead of hauling people off to jail - does not address the core problem of racial inequality and poses new dangers. [continues 466 words]
A marijuana user poses a joint over some ground marijuana Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010 in Tempe, Ariz. Arizona voters were literally split evenly on the issue of allowing marijuana use for medical purposes, leaving the proposition far too close to call. A marijuana user poses a joint over some ground marijuana Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010 in Tempe, Ariz. Arizona voters were literally split evenly on the issue of allowing marijuana use for medical purposes, leaving the proposition far too close to call. (Matt York / AP) [continues 541 words]
ALBANY -- A Cuomo administration panel will recommend New York State legalize recreational use of marijuana, the state's health commissioner said Monday. But the long-awaited report by the group has still not been released as the State Legislature looks to end its 2018 session on Wednesday -- leaving action for this year on the matter all but impossible. Dr. Howard Zucker, the state's top health regulator, said public health, law enforcement and others inside and outside government, have been examining the issue of marijuana legalization since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo asked for a study on the issue in January. [continues 969 words]
The district attorneys in Manhattan and Brooklyn are weighing plans to stop prosecuting the vast majority of people arrested on marijuana charges, potentially curbing the consequences of a law that in New York City is enforced most heavily against black and Hispanic people. The Brooklyn district attorney's office, which in 2014 decided to stop prosecuting many low-level marijuana cases, is considering expanding its policy so that more people currently subject to arrest on marijuana charges, including those who smoke outside without creating a public nuisance, would not be prosecuted, one official familiar with the discussions said. [continues 1661 words]
If you've walked around New York City lately, there's a good chance you've smelled weed. People smoke walking their dogs in the West Village, and they smoke in apartment building lobbies in the South Bronx. They smoke outside bars and restaurants and in the park. White people largely don't get arrested for it. Black and Hispanic people do, despite survey after survey saying people of most races smoke at similar rates. So after a senior police official recently testified to the City Council that there was a simple justification - he said more people call 911 and 311 to complain about marijuana smoke in black and Hispanic neighborhoods - we decided to dig into the numbers the New York Police Department gave lawmakers to support that claim. [continues 689 words]
After years of halting steps, top prosecutors and elected officials in New York City on Tuesday made a sudden dash toward ending many of the marijuana arrests that for decades have entangled mostly black and Hispanic people. The plans, still unwritten and under negotiation, will rise or fall on the type of conduct involving marijuana that officials decide should still warrant arrest and prosecution. The changes appear likely to create a patchwork of prosecution policies across the city's five boroughs, and are unlikely to restrict police officers from stopping and searching people on suspicion of possessing a drug that is now legal in a number of states. [continues 1001 words]
They sit in courtroom pews, almost all of them young black men, waiting their turn before a New York City judge to face a charge that no longer exists in some states: possessing marijuana. They tell of smoking in a housing project hallway, or of being in a car with a friend who was smoking, or of lighting up a Black & Mild cigar the police mistake for a blunt. There are many ways to be arrested on marijuana charges, but one pattern has remained true through years of piecemeal policy changes in New York: The primary targets are black and Hispanic people. [continues 1833 words]
The New York Police Department has claimed that more black and Latino people are arrested for petty marijuana offenses because complaints are more voluminous in neighborhoods where black and Latino people predominantly live. That excuse was blown apart this weekend by a Times investigation showing that the complaints about marijuana use do not fully account for the racial arrest gap - and that, when complaints were held constant, "the police almost always made arrests at a higher rate in the area with more black citizens." [continues 533 words]
NEW YORK -- CNN's medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has taken the unusual step of publicly urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reconsider his opposition to medical marijuana, particularly as a way to fight the opioid epidemic. Gupta wrote a public letter to Sessions, saying that he had changed his mind on the use of medical marijuana, and he's certain Sessions can, too. Research and talking to people who say marijuana has eased pain and weaned them off opioids convinced him. It's an unusual step for a journalist to move into advocacy, by sending a letter to the attorney general. But Gupta says he believes this falls into the category of telling truth to power. [end]
A week after telling two interviewers her support for legalizing recreational use of marijuana in New York was revenue-based, Democratic candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon said Wednesday that it's now foremost a racial justice issue for her. The "Sex and the City" star posted a 90-second video on YouTube in which she stated that it's time New York joined eight other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing recreational use of marijuana. "There are a lot of good reasons for legalizing marijuana, but for me, it comes down to this: we have to stop putting people of color in jail for something that white people do with impunity," Nixon said. [continues 466 words]
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday called for the creation of a state panel to advise him on whether New York should legalize recreational marijuana. Cuomo did not specifically embrace a legalization effort, and said the advisory group, which will include State Police representation, is meant to get to the "facts" of the issue. "I think we should fund (Department of Health) to do a study, let them work with the State Police, other agencies, look at the health impact, the economic impact, the state of the law. If it was legalized in Jersey and it was legal in Massachusetts and the federal government allowed it to go ahead, what would that do to New York because it's right in the middle?" Cuomo said. [continues 229 words]
Just a few weeks ago, Joel A. Giambra the lobbyist was working the State Capitol's hallways advocating the legalization of marijuana. Now he works a different Capitol angle as a Republican hopeful for governor, proposing that legalized and tightly regulated marijuana sales represent the best way to address the state's massive infrastructure and mass transit needs. "I'm saying raising taxes is not the solution," he said during a Monday press conference on Niagara Street. "My job would be to convince the Legislature that this is the most appropriate way to deal with this particular problem of infrastructure." [continues 405 words]
The five medical marijuana companies in New York have filed a lawsuit to block new cannabis businesses, claiming the growth threatens to kill the fledgling industry that has struggled to sell the drug to critically ill patients. The lawsuit seeks to stop the state Department of Health from allowing five new companies to grow and sell medical marijuana in New York. The companies in the legal fight include Vireo Health and Etain, which are selling cannabis-based drugs at dispensaries in downtown White Plains and Yonkers, The Journal News/lohud has learned from court records. There is also a dispensary in Kingston, Ulster County. [continues 913 words]
ALBANY - New Yorkers who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder will now be able to use medical marijuana as a form of treatment. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law Saturday that added PTSD to the list of conditions eligible for medical marijuana in New York. "As of today, marijuana will be legalized if a doctor authorizes and finds the condition of PTSD for a veteran, and I think that can help thousands of veterans. It's something that we've been talking about for a long time, and I'm glad we're taking action," Cuomo said. [continues 413 words]
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation to add post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of ailments that can legally be treated with medical marijuana. The PTSD bill was part of a package of legislation that Cuomo signed Saturday to mark Veterans Day. The Democratic governor said 19,000 New Yorkers with PTSD could be helped by medical marijuana. He said the potential beneficiaries include veterans as well as police officers and survivors of domestic violence, crime and accidents. [continues 55 words]
In just three years, the number of marijuana arrests in Buffalo dropped by more than half. At the same time, the overwhelming majority of people arrested continued to be people of color. A new study, released Tuesday, found 86 percent of the people arrested for marijuana possession in Buffalo during the five year-period ending last year were black or Hispanic. In Erie County, people of color accounted for 77 percent of all marijuana possession arrests over the same five-year period, according to the study. [continues 587 words]
ALBANY -- New York is looking for industrial hemp growers. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that an application period is open to participate in the state's Industrial Hemp Agricultural Research Pilot Program. The program is open to researchers, farmers and businesses who wish to research, grow, manufacture and produce industrial hemp in New York. "By expanding industrial hemp research, we are opening the doors to innovative ideas that could provide a major boost to our farms and communities, creating new jobs, and laying the foundation for future economic growth," Cuomo said in a statement. [continues 143 words]
Prosecutors say the false compartments in Harinder Dhaliwal's tractor trailers was the innovation that allowed more than 3 tons of cocaine to move through Buffalo. By Dhaliwal's own admission, the 6,600 pounds of cocaine he and others smuggled into Canada had a street value of $120 million. A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced the 47-year old Brampton, Ont., man to 20 years in prison. "There is no other case like this," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch. "We've never seen this amount of drugs before." [continues 327 words]
Whether you love it or hate it, it's a fact that 29 states so far have some form of marijuana decriminalization or legalization, with more considering the possibility. People have strong opinions about the legalization of marijuana -- but how often are those opinions based on science and an understanding of evolving best practices? It's high time we have a national conversation that is rational, science-based and open-minded around the many public health implications. Substance use disorders, youth prevention, drugged driving, health effects, pesticides -- the list is long, and these questions make it a complex process for states working to translate policy and legislation into reasonable regulation. [continues 412 words]
ALBANY - New York will allow ointments, lozenges and chewable tablets as part of its medical marijuana program while the state's training program for doctors will be cut in half, the Department of Health announced Thursday. Health regulators on Thursday proposed a new set of regulations that would further expand the state's medical marijuana program, which the state has tried to broaden as it faced criticism from patient advocates and marijuana companies for its restrictiveness. The new rules, which can take effect as soon as late September, ease the state's restrictions on the type of marijuana products available to certified patients by allowing lotions, ointments, patches, certain chewables and lozenges. [continues 404 words]
NEW YORK -- A safe haven where drug users inject themselves with heroin and other drugs has been quietly operating in the United States for the past three years, a report reveals. None were known to exist in the US until the disclosure in a medical journal, although several states and cities are pushing to establish these so-called supervised injection sites, where users can shoot up under the care of trained staff who can treat an overdose if necessary. In the report released Tuesday, two researchers said they've been evaluating an underground safe place that opened in 2014. As a condition of their research, they didn't disclose the location of the facility -- which is unsanctioned and potentially illegal -- or the social service agency running it. [continues 547 words]
NEW YORK (AP) - AlphaBay, the now-shuttered online marketplace that authorities say traded in illegal drugs, firearms and counterfeit goods, wasn't all that different from any other e-commerce site, court documents show. Not only did it work hard to match buyers and sellers and to stamp out fraud, it offered dispute-resolution services when things went awry and kept a public-relations manager to promote the site to new users. This screen grab provided by the U.S. Department of Justice shows a hidden website that has been seized as part of a law enforcement operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and European law enforcement agencies acting through Europol. On Thursday, July 20, 2017, authorities announced that two of the world's most notorious "darknet" marketplaces, AlphaBay and Hansa, have been knocked out in a one-two punch that officials say yielded a trove of new intelligence about drugs and weapons merchants that operate from hidden corners of the internet. (U.S. Department of Justice via AP) [continues 504 words]
A special legislative task force formed to examine the effect of the opioid addiction scourge on Long Island and elsewhere throughout the state is scheduled to meet Wednesday in Mineola. The State Senate's Joint Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction meeting will be held at 4 p.m. at the NYU Winthrop Hospital Research and Academic Center in Mineola, a hospital spokesman said. Similar meetings have been held around the state as the task force seeks to understand how the increase in overdoses and addiction connected to heroin and other opioids is impacting communities. [continues 135 words]
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has compared cannabis to heroin. NEW YORK - In a national vote widely viewed as a victory for conservatives, last year's elections also yielded a win for liberals in eight states that legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use. But the growing industry is facing a federal crackdown under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has compared cannabis to heroin. A task force Sessions appointed to, in part, review links between violent crimes and marijuana is scheduled to release its findings by the end of the month. But he has already asked Senate leaders to roll back rules that block the Justice Department from bypassing state laws to enforce a federal ban on medical marijuana. [continues 650 words]
Now the state is taking steps to increase the crop. "We want to be the nation's leader in hemp production,'' Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday shortly before signing legislation intended to boost the commercialization of industrial hemp, which is used in some 25,000 products from cosmetics and animal feed to clothing and biofuels. The state is also pumping $10 million into research for the now-fledgling industry, State Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball said, after the federal government in 2014 relaxed rules governing the growing of the crop. Industrial hemp, unlike its marijuana cousin, contains no or minimal levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, the ingredient that gets users high. [continues 325 words]
ALBANY - Veterans groups are pressing Gov. Andrew Cuomo to allow those with post-traumatic stress disorder to use medical marijuana, urging him to sign a bill that will soon head to his desk. The state Senate voted late last month to add PTSD to the list of illnesses and ailments eligible for the state's medical-marijuana program, about six weeks after the Assembly voted to do the same. It remains unclear, however, whether Cuomo will sign the bill that could significantly expand the number of eligible patients in New York's medical-marijuana program, which is among the more restrictive in the nation. [continues 517 words]
School districts on Long Island and statewide are stocking naloxone onsite in school buildings to have the opioid antidote at the ready because of the growing issue of abuse of the deadly drugs, educators and health officials said. At least 340 schools across the state, including dozens on Long Island, have provided training for school nurses or other personnel about how to administer naloxone, according to the state Education Department. The Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, based in Westbury, also has seen interest grow in instructing school personnel about the antidote, said Reisa Berg, director of education and prevention. [continues 1060 words]
A Wilson man said Friday that he was under the influence of marijuana when he caused a fatal crash last summer in Porter. Michael A. Buchalski II, 22, of Randall Road, pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and driving while impaired by drugs, in exchange for a two-year sentence - one year on each count - in the Niagara County Jail. State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. scheduled sentencing for Aug. 11. The judge also revoked Buchalski's bail and sent him to jail immediately to begin serving his time for causing the death of Michael G. Willimott Jr., 38, of Niagara Falls. [continues 389 words]
ALBANY - When the State of New York approved the use of medical marijuana in 2014, the applicants to dispense the drug were vetted and reviewed by a panel of experts said to have deep backgrounds in several fields. The identities of the panel's members had been a mystery since. By July 2015, the panel had chosen five companies that would receive exclusive statewide medical marijuana licenses, a potentially lucrative award in a state with nearly 20 million residents and hundreds of thousands of potential patients. [continues 927 words]
At every school in New Rochelle, just north of the Bronx, in Westchester, there is a locked medicine cabinet in the nurse's office, stocked with things like EpiPens for allergic reactions, inhalers for asthma, Tylenol for aches and pains. Now, those cabinets also include naloxone, an antidote for people who are overdosing on opioids like heroin. Given as an injection or a nasal spray, naloxone can quickly revive someone who is not breathing. The city keeps it in every nurse's office, including in its elementary schools. [continues 1160 words]
[photo] Kate Hintz of North Salem, with her daughter, Morgan Jones, diagnosed with Dravet syndrome. Hintz, director of Compassionate Care New York, says the state must expand access with more dispensaries.(Photo: COURTESY/Jennifer Tonetti Spellman.) The problems with New York's medical marijuana program are well documented. From the day the Compassionate Care Act was signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, patient advocates knew that the law -- a compromise born of a nearly 20 year struggle -- was seriously flawed. Those flaws are numerous, and they all work against patients: a very limited number of eligible conditions, restricting patient certification only to physicians, severely restricting the number of producers and dispensaries, limiting to five the number of products a company could sell, and prohibiting forms of the medicine that have proved popular and effective in other states. [continues 649 words]
Mom guilt is here to stay. The stress of trying to be a calm, nurturing parent while also trying to keep our jobs, stay on top of school notices and remain married isn't going away. Not to mention the feeling that we're doing none of them particularly well. But that won't stop some people from trying anything. Author Ayelet Waldman, for instance, tried LSD. In her new book, "A Really Good Day," she documents her experiment with "microdosing," taking very small quantities of LSD -- enough to make you calmer, more aware of your environment, more able to focus on your work, but without all those wacky hallucinations. [continues 684 words]
[photo] The state senator wants more drug disposal sites and access to medication to treat addiction. NEW CITY - Opioid deaths, including fatal heroin overdoses, are on the rise in Rockland County, where state Sen. David Carlucci is pushing a pair of proposals to help addicts. There were 37 opioid deaths in Rockland last year, up from 25 in 2015, according to a report from the Rockland County Medical Examiner's Office. That's compared to 36 opioid deaths in total between 2003 and 2009 in Rockland, according to Carlucci's office. [continues 192 words]
Even as more and more states allow their residents to use marijuana, the federal government is continuing to obstruct scientists from studying whether the drug is good or bad for people's health. A report published last week by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine points out that scientists who want to study cannabis have to seek approvals from federal, state and local agencies and depend on just one lab, at the University of Mississippi, for samples. As a result, far too little is known about the health effects of a substance that 28 states have decided can be used as medicine and eight states and the District of Columbia have approved for recreational use. [continues 408 words]
Nineteen suspected opiate deaths in the first 19 days of January have Erie County on pace for 365 deaths in 2017. It could be worse. Last year started more deadly. During the early weeks and months of 2016, the epidemic was claiming so many lives that county officials projected more than 500 people would die that year. The pace, however, slowed as the county took aggressive steps, including promotion of the widespread use of the opiate antidote Naloxone. By year's end, 247 people had died in confirmed overdoses, with 77 more suspected deaths, officials said Thursday. [continues 671 words]
Women can blame their cocaine addictions on their biology, according to a new study that claims that ladies are more susceptible to the drug's addictive qualities. Hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle, specifically spikes in estrogen, intensify the drug's pleasurable effects, according to researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai on The Upper East Side. "Our study will change the way we think about addiction research to emphasize the need to further understand female subjects, as most research on addiction has been conducted in male subjects," the study's lead author, Dr. Erin Calipari, said in a statement. [continues 313 words]
Joseph Tigano III is spending 20 years in prison for growing marijuana. He grew a lot of it. No one disputes that. And this was his second felony conviction. So no one, not even Tigano's lawyers, suggests the Cattaraugus County man should go unpunished. But 20 years? Even the federal judge who sentenced Tigano in 2015 thought it was too heavy a price to pay. "It is much greater than necessary," U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford said at the time, "but I do not have a choice." [continues 1120 words]
ALBANY - Gov. Andrew Cuomo is making another pitch for the state to decriminalize possession of some marijuana. Cuomo quietly included the proposal in a 380-page State of the State message that he provided late Wednesday to the state Legislature. "The illegal sale of marijuana cannot and will not be tolerated in New York state, but data consistently show that recreational users of marijuana pose little to no threat to public safety," is on Page 191 of Cuomo's message. The idea will again stoke a debate in Albany after the issue gained prominence in 2012 -- when the Democratic governor first made the push to decriminalize possession of marijuana. [continues 341 words]
A bill that would expedite patients' access to medical marijuana has been sent to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk. Cuomo will have until Nov. 11 to either sign or veto the bill, which the state Legislature passed in late June. The Medical Marijuana Expedited Access bill comes after a state medical-marijuana program was passed in 2014 and is set to be up and running by January. It allows for medical marijuana in non-smokeable forms for patients suffering from severe illnesses, particularly children is chronic epilepsy. [continues 252 words]
ALBANY -- State regulators want to double the number of companies growing and selling medical marijuana in New York to keep pace with patient demand. The state Department of Health issued a report this week with 12 recommendations to improve the state's medical marijuana program, which launched in January and has faced criticism from patient advocates who say there are too many barriers to getting the drug. Among them were proposals to increase the number of marijuana companies who can operate in New York from five to 10, which would increase the number of allowed dispensaries in New York from 20 to 40. [continues 694 words]
Inside New York
