cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Bill Sparking Debate in NY Legislature
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Marijuana Bill Sparking Debate in NY Legislature
Posted by CN Staff on June 21, 2010 at 16:31:47 PT
By Cara Matthews, Albany Bureau 
Source: Ithaca Journal
Albany, N.Y. -- Legalizing marijuana for medical use, which would produce millions of dollars in revenue for New York, continues to be part of negotiations on the state budget, which is now more than 80 days late, officials said Monday."To me the reason for enacting it is treating patients with serious conditions fairly, but the revenue is certainly a reason to make it part of the budget. So, all of those issues are very much up in the air," said Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, who is sponsoring the bill.
Fourteen other states have authorized medical use of marijuana for patients with serious, debilitating or life-threatening medical conditions like HIV/AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma. It has been found to relieve nausea, chronic pain and muscle spasms and increase appetite.If legislation is passed in New York, the state would have the "most narrow and restrictive of any law in the country," Gottfried said.Proposals to legalize marijuana for medical use have been in the Legislature for more than a dozen years. Last year, when Democrats took control of the Senate, was the first time both houses had identical bills and medical marijuana was thought to have a chance of passing. The Assembly approved a bill in 2007 and 2008. But neither house passed a bill last year.The legislation is on the Assembly calendar and could be voted on as a stand-alone bill, Gottfried said. It is still in committee in the Senate, which has never passed a medical-marijuana bill.The Senate included the legalization of marijuana in its budget resolution several months ago. The bill could make its way to the floor or become part of the state budget, said Senate Health Committee Chairman Thomas Duane, D-Manhattan, who is sponsoring the bill. Medical marijuana should be available to people who really need to alleviate their suffering when nothing else has helped, he said. Snipped   Complete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/35tCQkYdSource: Ithaca Journal, The (NY)Author: Cara Matthews, Albany BureauPublished: June 21, 2010Copyright: 2010, The Ithaca JournalContact: http://mapinc.org/url/3wjE9bSnWebsite: http://www.theithacajournal.com/ CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by rchandar on June 24, 2010 at 16:40:40 PT:
Why It Is Time
Probably and simply because New York would benefit from any kind of expansion of the medical and pharmaceutical industry. There are obviously needy patients for whom legal medicines aren't working, and AIDS has always been a big problem in NYC. It isn't hard to imagine people needing pot to alleviate their symptoms. Availability should be statewide. One possibility is somehow linking the med product to a health care system, created specifically to dispense pot to patients. And it should be available in every major city of the state.I think New York has one of the best medical establishments in the country, but sometimes I'm left guessing. My father was diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago; sometimes an old friend mused, after the chemotherapy and extreme pain of their medications (12 in total), that he never really had cancer in the first place.I once suggested trying pot to my dad. He refused.--rchandar
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