Pubdate: Sun, 12 Jan 2014
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Authors: Jennifer Peltz and David B. Caruso
Page: A11

CUOMO PLANS FOR LIMITED POT USE

But Medical Marijuana Initiative Frustrates Some Advocates

New York (AP) - Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made a political splash by
introducing his medical marijuana plan in his State of the State
speech, but his cautious approach has met muted cheers from pot
advocates who question how meaningful it really is.

While nearly two dozen states have approved marijuana for medical
purposes and Colorado and Washington have legalized its use for
pleasure, Cuomo (D) is tapping a 1980 state law to allow as many as 20
hospitals to dispense the drug to people with certain severe illnesses
as an experimental research project.

"I'm absolutely thrilled that he's actually verbalized the words
'medical marijuana,' but he's just got to go further," said Susan
Rusinko, a 52-year-old central New York resident who said a hit of pot
is a "wonder drug" that relaxes immobilizing leg spasms from her
multiple sclerosis. It's unclear whether she would even qualify for
Cuomo's initiative or whether there would be a participating hospital
near her.

While advocates are frustrated, Cuomo's limited embrace of medical
marijuana may be a politically astute and scientifically sensitive
move on an issue on which popular enthusiasm has outpaced a weak body
of medical research, experts say.

Some doctors avidly back using cannabis to treat problems ranging from
chemotherapy-related nausea to chronic pain, but other medical experts
say there are good reasons for caution. While the marijuana plant
holds tantalizing possibilities, they say, it's still a question mark
as medicines go.

Cuomo's initiative is styled as a test of whether pot can be
effectively used as medicine without being abused.

"This does not start with a premise: 'Oh, this is a slam dunk. . . .
We can do it without any ancillary problems,' " he told reporters
Monday. "It's the exact opposite."

Under his plan, people with cancer, glaucoma and possibly some other
"life-threatening or sense-threatening" conditions could seek to get
marijuana through studies based at hospitals yet to be named, with
"stringent research protocols and eligibility requirements."

Cuomo's initiative bypasses a state legislature that has weighed but
failed to pass more ambitious medical marijuana laws. He's relying
instead on his administrative powers to carry out a 1980 law allowing
medical-marijuana research.

Critics think medical marijuana is an entree to more recreational use
of a drug that was widely outlawed in the United States in the 1930s.
"I think it sends the wrong signal to our young people," said Michael
Long, chairman of the New York Conservative Party.

Supporters say the marijuana plant is effective against various
ailments, including backaches, anxiety and seizures.

If the medical science is unsettled, allowing pharmaceutical pot is
popular with New Yorkers. A Quinnipiac University poll in June found
70 percent of state voters support it.

And for Cuomo, the issue represents an opportunity to plant a flag on
the left - but not too far - as he faces reelection this year amid
talk of his potential 2016 presidential prospects. Cuomo enjoys
favorability ratings around 55 and 60 percent in recent polls, but
some of the state's Democratic limelight has been shining lately on
newly installed, staunchly liberal New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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