Pubdate: Wed, 16 Oct 2002
Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (NY)
Copyright: 2002 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Contact:  http://www.democratandchronicle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/614
Author: Joseph Spector

GOLISANO: LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Gubernatorial candidate B. Thomas Golisano is proposing that the state 
legalize medical marijuana for terminally and seriously ill patients.

Golisano scheduled a press conference Wednesday in Albany to announce his 
plans. An ad began running Tuesday night in New York City that knocks Gov. 
George Pataki for not approving the law, saying heis beholden to 
pharmaceutical companies opposed to it.

iDoctors, not politicians, should be deciding how to care for their 
patients,i Golisano spokesman Erick Mullen said.

Marijuana Reform Party candidate Thomas Leighton torched Golisanois plan. 
iItis an act of political opportunism,i he said.

Leighton said Golisanois campaign asked him last week for assistance in 
putting together the ads. Leighton said he didnit want to help because 
Golisano doesnit seem genuine about the issue or other recent proposals, 
such as free tuition for some college students and repealing the stateis 
harsh drug sentencing laws.

iI think the next thing is going to be a chicken in every pot and pot with 
every chicken,i Leighton said.

Leighton said the Marijuana Reform Party asked Golisano months ago if he 
wanted to run for governor on their line, but he declined. Mullen said he 
was unaware that Golisano was asked.

Leighton said he fears Golisano could take away from the 50,000 votes 
needed for the Marijuana Reform Party to remain on future ballots.

Golisano, the billionaire owner of Paychex Inc., is making a third bid for 
governor on the Independence Party line, which he helped create in 1994.

That year, Golisano suggested that the state look at legalizing marijuana 
and other drugs, saying the country was losing the war on drugs. Pataki, 
seeking to unseat Democrat Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1994, attacked Golisano at 
the time.

Golisano, however, is tempering the message this time to focus just on 
medical marijuana.

Nine states give people with serious or terminal illnesses the right to use 
marijuana if prescribed by a doctor. Golisanois ad says New York approved a 
similar law in 1980, but no mechanisms are in place to allow for the drugis 
distribution or use.

A Pataki spokesman said there is no concrete evidence that marijuana can 
help patients.

iThe experts at the state Department of Health are not convinced that this 
is the appropriate medical response,i said spokesman Bob Hinckley.

Golisano, who plans to spend $75 million or more on his self-financed 
campaign, will also unveil ads later this week that knock Pataki for the 
fiscal problems being faced by New York counties, Mullen said.

The ads will be regionalized to focus on tax increases that counties are 
proposing because of unfunded state mandates.
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