Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jun 2014
Source: Citizen, The (Auburn, NY)
Copyright: 2014 Auburn Publishers Inc.
Contact: http://www.auburnpub.com/services/send_a_letter
Website: http://www.auburnpub.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1491

BRING MEDICAL MARIJUANA TO A VOTE

Time is running out for meaningful legislation to be passed in Albany
before lawmakers break for the summer, and among the items that should
be passed is allowing medical marijuana to be given to patients
suffering painful and debilitating conditions.

There appears to be widespread agreement in both houses to pass a bill
- - and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has indicated he'd support it - but some
Republican senators, including Sen. John DeFrancisco, are holding up
progress.

There's clear support among the people of the state and within the
Capitol for this bill that's been convincingly justified by advocates
suffering from chronic diseases, so it would be shameful if it was
killed at this point because of a political power play.

DeFrancisco has threatened to kill the legislation in his finance
committee, and he and Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos, who could
also block the bill, are both opposed to patients being allowed to
smoke the drug, preferring instead the options of marijuana oils,
vapors or edibles.

Perhaps the idea of smoking grass is just too emblematic of 1960s
hippies for Republicans to possibly support, but it would be a shame
if that were to become the line in the sand for this legislation.
Doctors are perfectly capable of deciding how best to have the drug
administered to their patients.

More likely, the holdup is just another case of politics as usual,
which would indicate that DeFrancisco and other members of the Senate
are forgetting the promises they made a couple years ago. The deal
that resulted in a coalition leadership involving a handful of Senate
Democrats was supposed to have ushered in a new era of cooperation and
provide a more democratic process of letting legislation work its way
through the system.

The Senate must call for a full floor vote on medical marijuana so
that New Yorkers can find out where their representatives stand. This
legislation isn't about what the Assembly wants or what the governor
wants. And it certainly shouldn't be a debate about vaporizing vs
smoking. It is about providing medical relief to people who are
suffering. And politics must not stand in the way of that.
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