Pubdate: Wed, 22 Apr 2009
Source: Journal News, The (NY)
Copyright: 2009 The Gannett Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nyjournalnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1205
Author: Cara Matthews
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA GETS NEW LIFE WITH STATE LEGISLATION

ALBANY - Legalization of marijuana for medical use may have a shot at 
legislative approval this year because Democrats, who now control the 
state Senate and Assembly, are sponsoring identical bills on the issue.

State Senate Health Committee Chairman Thomas Duane and Assembly 
Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, both Manhattan 
Democrats, are backing the legislation, which would allow patients to 
have up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and 12 mature plants.

"There are thousands of New Yorkers with serious debilitating, 
life-threatening, painful ailments who would benefit from the medical 
use under physician supervision ... of marijuana," Gottfried said 
yesterday. "The medical science is very clear and very well 
established that there are many patients for whom marijuana will 
ameliorate their symptoms or help them to tolerate their treatment, 
where other medications do not work."

Thirteen other states have legalized marijuana, and legislation is 
under consideration in New Jersey, New Hampshire and other states, 
Gottfried said. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said the 
government will respect state laws on medical marijuana with regard 
to enforcement, Gottfried said. In the past, federal law enforcement 
has shut down dispensaries for medical marijuana because pot is an 
illegal drug.

"This is about compassion. This is about medicine. This isn't about 
politics," Duane said.

Marijuana has been used to relieve nausea, increase appetite, reduce 
muscle spasms and reduce chronic pain in patients with debilitating 
illnesses like AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma.

Duane said he believes the legislation enjoys broad bipartisan 
support in the state Senate, where there are 32 Democrats and 30 Republicans.

Republicans, who outnumbered Democrats from 1965 until this year, 
previously blocked any legalization bill from moving forward. There 
has been Republican support in the past for limited use of pot by 
allowing state-regulated growers to produce it and licensed 
dispensaries to distribute it. The Assembly, where Democrats hold the 
overwhelming majority of seats, passed the legislation in 2007 and 2008.

Duane said allowing patients to grow their own pot is a simpler way 
to provide access than dispensaries. Patients would need a doctor's 
recommendation to possess and use marijuana.

If the bill passes both houses, Gov. David Paterson will seek input 
from interested parties before acting, spokesman Errol Cockfield said.

People who oppose medical marijuana think it could increase drug 
abuse and crime. The state Conservative Party believes legalizing it 
would send the wrong message to society, Chairman Mike Long said.

"We have enough trouble with the use of prescription drugs without 
adding another one to it," he said, adding there are plenty of drugs 
available currently to relieve pain.

If people are allowed to grow it in their homes, children and others 
in the house may gain access to it, Long said.

Assemblyman Joel Miller, R-Poughkeepsie, said the time has come for 
New York to legalize medical marijuana.

"To me it's absolutely amazing that we would deny people the benefit 
of a drug simply because it also has some other impact on the 
community," said Miller, a dentist. "The people who need it are not 
going to be using it recreationally."

Patients are going to use it so they can gain some standard of life, 
he said, "and everyone deserves that."

The legislation would require plants to be kept in a secure, locked 
enclosure. It includes provisions for the state Department of Health 
to give permits to dispensaries, pending certification by the federal 
government that this could be done without federal prosecution.

Supporters of the legislation include the state Medical Society, the 
New York State Nurses Association and a long list of other groups, 
Gottfried said.

Joe Gamble of Onondaga County, said he was diagnosed with multiple 
sclerosis two years ago and has used medical marijuana to alleviate a 
lot of the tremors and neurological pain he feels. Gamble, a 
33-year-old former commercial jet pilot, said he has shooting pains 
throughout his body all the time.

"It would be nice not to be considered a criminal just because I use 
marijuana for medical reasons," he said.

Joel Peacock, 58, of Buffalo said the four pain medications he takes 
cost $39,000 a year. He was in a car accident in 2001 and surgery a 
year later to remove three discs from his neck was not successful.
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