New York Medical marijuana bill clears Assembly Health Committee

[the_man]

Medical marijuana bill clears Assembly Health Committee

ALBANY – One day after the state of New Jersey passed a medical marijuana bill, the New York State Assembly Health Committee approved a similar one for seriously ill people, with life threatening conditions.

The bill has been approved a number of previous times in the committee and this time, committee member Assemblyman Kevin Cahill (D-Kingston) believes it might make it all the way to the governor’s desk.

“We think the time is right. We think compassion has no party and our effort today is to move this along quickly, early in the session, so that maybe we can actually see it become law,” he said.

Cahill believes the Senate, now also Democrat controlled, would support the bill. He has received no indication from Governor Paterson as to if he would sign it, but he is confident the governor would.

Under the bill, a patient would have to be under a doctor’s care in order to be dispensed medical marijuana.

 

[the_man]

Earlier this year, New York's medical marijuana legislation was modified to garner support from senators of both parties. The twin bills, A. 9016 and S. 4041-B, are sponsored by Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) and Senate Health Committee Chair Tom Duane (D-Manhattan). Senate Republicans who are open to allowing medical marijuana have long opposed allowing patients and designated caregivers to grow small amounts of marijuana. The bill would instead allow for safe access by allowing state-registered regulated entities to dispense medical marijuana to qualified patients. We expect that these changes will attract Republican support.

Please take action and call Senate Majority Conference Leader John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) and ask him to make sure S. 4041-B gets a vote when the Senate returns for special session. This year is the first that a medical marijuana bill has passed out of a Senate committee, and it is crucial that senators hear that their constituents want it to be a priority this year.

Bills are here if you want to read them

http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A09016&sh=t

http://open.nysenate.gov/openleg/api/html/bill/S4041B

 

[igrowone]

is this a new post followed by an old post?
1st post looks like it could be true, but the 2nd has Spitzer as governor with Bruno, who retired from senate last year
don't toy with me, this legislation is big to us in NY

 

[Tony Aroma]

You'd think by now they'd at least know how to spell it correctly. There's no "H" in "marijuana"!

 

[the_man]

the second post was old i updated it I was trying to find the bill numbers

I noticed the spelling to

 

[igrowone]

well, thanks for posting the updated info
wish i could be more enthusiastic about the contents, another state dispensary system, crap!
they had mentioned it would be users growing their own last year
i guess it's progress, nothing i would want to be involved in though

 

[the_man]

it looks like MPP is going to advise states into no home growing for future bills

 

[igrowone]

thanks for the bill links, +rep for keeping us informed on this important progress
i skimmed through both bills, pretty similar language
strangely, i found some more favorable language in the senate bill with respect to potential conditions
still sulking a bit after the no grow conditions, assuming these will be private dispensary's with a state blessing
i guess you have to start somewhere

 

[Deaner]

I'm not in NY, but it just from skimming the legislation, it appears that they are adopting the "caregiver" policy which implies the ability to cultivate.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I only skimmed the text.

Edit: It doesn't specifically state that a caregiver or patient can cultivate their own marijuana, but it does allow for producers.

 

[igrowone]

I'm not in NY, but it just from skimming the legislation, it appears that they are adopting the "caregiver" policy which implies the ability to cultivate.

Correct me if I'm wrong. I only skimmed the text.

Edit: It doesn't specifically state that a caregiver or patient can cultivate their own marijuana, but it does allow for producers.

thanks for looking things over Deaner, i do see the producer section
at this point, it looks like this is an unsettled issue
producer could be anyone, there doesn't seem to be any prohibition that a producer could be a caregiver, or patient for that matter
they'll likely clarify this point soon, if they are indeed moving along on this bill
i suspect that NJ is going to be the model, little as i like that thought
guess we'll have to wait for the next bit of info

 

[Tony Aroma]

You know, if New York gets MMJ, that will push the total number of people with legal access to mmj to almost half the population of the US. With NJ and DC, we are now up to 1/3. Two more big states -- like NY, TX, FL, IL -- and it will be a majority. Surely that must be some kind of tipping point.

 

[Muleskinner]

looks like no patient growing again, too bad

a lot of laws passed in the 80's and 90's that didn't allow patient growing and every single one was brought down by technicalities. We'll see what happens in NJ. If there's no dispensaries there's no weed.

and even if there are dispensaries the herb will be $300-$400/ounce

 

[bigdaddyc9]

Bump for any new news on NY???

 

[!!!]

bigdaddyc9 - I just posted this:
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?p=3627623