[ladyknight]

NY Patients Urge State Senators

New York may potentially enlist as the 13th state in allowing medicinal marijuana use. The latest tactic is television ads. According to The Daily Star on June 3, 2008 ("Patients to Push for Medical Marijuana Law"), 'Two area men with serious, chronic medical conditions will join an assemblyman in Albany today to urge passage of a Senate bill allowing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The men said separately they don't want to be criminalized because they use marijuana for their medical conditions. Dan Bernath, assistant director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, said the possibility of arrests are a fear among patients and today's lobby efforts are to inform senators of the importance of the issues. The Assembly passed a bill last year, Bernath said, and the Marijuana Policy Project wouldn't ask patients to lobby for passage if there were no chance senators would approve the bill."

The article states, "However, a local senator expressed doubt. The U.S. Supreme Court has said the issue is a matter of federal law, said James Seward, R-Milford, and it is up to Congress to clarify whether states are empowered on the matter. 'I don't anticipate the Senate will take up this issue until the federal government tells us we can,' Seward said. The Assembly is creating some false hope about an issue that isn't clearly in the state's jurisdiction, he said, and the fact that some other states have moved forward to approve laws 'isn't a road that New York should go down.' Seward said he personally supports the use of medicinal marijuana for patients with chronic or terminal conditions if the drug is approved by the Federal Drug Administration and prescribed by a physician. The drug, like morphine, could be used for pain relief, he said. 'I could support legislation that is very, very tightly controlled,' Seward said. But until federal and state jurisdictions are clarified, Seward said he has a responsibility to abide by the U.S. Constitution."

The article adds, "The Assembly bill sponsored by Gottfried legalizes the possession, manufacture, use, delivery, transport or administration of marijuana by a patient or designated caregiver for a certified medical use and directs the Department of Health to monitor uses. In its justification, the bill refers to the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine 1999 report that 'nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety ... all can be mitigated by marijuana.' Doctors and patients have documented that marijuana can be an effective treatment _ where other medications have failed _ for some patients with HIV/AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and other life-threatening or debilitating conditions. A Senate bill regarding proposed medicinal use of marijuana is in committee, according to the website."

Excellent, thanks for posting this. I sent the link to my mother in New York along with how to find her Senator. The next arrest we hear about may be her personally storming the Senate in Albany to get this passed!

[AnyOtherIllness]

The new governor of New York, David Patterson, is actually pretty cool. He wrote an executive decree ordering New York state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages from other states and countries that have legalized them, even though New York itself does not have a same sex marriage law (yet).

I wrote Gov. Patterson a letter saying: do the same thing for MMJ patients. I.e. order New York state agencies to recognize MMJ patients from other states. Then patients could travel to New York and pay taxes in New York without fear of prosecution. He hasn't written back and said no yet.