New York Medical Marijuana Bill Re-Assigned; Could Pass Senate Next Week

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/33425/new-york-medical-marijuana-bill-re-assigned-could-pass-senate-next-week/

ALBANY, NY — The final major obstacle blocking New York from becoming the 23rd medical marijuana state was cleared Thursday, setting the stage for final negotiations and a potential eleventh-hour vote as the final days of the legislative session near.

With the Chairman of the New York Senate Finance Committee unwilling to consider the Compassionate Care Act, a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in the state, the bill was discharged from the Finance Committee and re-assigned to the Rules Committee on Thursday.

“The Savino bill will not come out of my committee, the Finance Committee,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman John DeFrancisco (R-D50) had said Tuesday, upsetting patients, parents and activists state-wide, who began flooding the Senators’ office with phone calls and social media posts urging DeFrancisco to re-consider.

But when one of the state’s most powerful labor unions, the AFL-CIO, announced their support for the bill earlier this week, Senate leaders took the step to strip the bill from DeFrancisco’s committee and re-assigned it to the Rules Committee so that it could receive fair consideration.

While not “advancing” the bill in a typical sense — the Finance Committee never considered or voted on the bill — when sponsors of the bill announced the move at a Thursday press conference in Albany, they were optimistic about the Compassionate Care Act receiving a vote by the full Senate before the end of the legislative session next week.

If the Compassionate Care Act sees a vote by the full Senate, the bill — which has already passed the Assembly by a wide margin — should receive a near veto-proof majority of “yes” votes in the Senate. Bill sponsor Senator Diane Savino (D-Staten Island) says she has at least 40 “yes” votes in the 63 member Senate, including three Republican co-sponsors.

A veto-proof majority may no longer be an issue, however, as Governor Andrew Cuomo recently expressed support for the Compassionate Care Act, saying he would sign any medical marijuana bill passed by the legislature that “makes sense.”

The Compassionate Care Act has already passed in the Assembly, but recent changes by the bills two primary sponsors — Sen. Savino in the Senate and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried — would require a new vote in the lower chamber to ratify the changes, but that is merely a formality considering the 91-34 vote in May.

In order to guarantee swift passage in the final days of New York’s legislative session, which ends next week, Savino and Gottfried are in “three-way negotiations” between both chambers of the legislature and the Governor’s office.

“It’s in three-way negotiations with the governor’s office, and we will have a final product in time for the end of this legislative session,” Savino told reporters at a press conference Thursday.

Savino said negotiations are related to some of the minor details in the bill, such as language involving training protocols for doctors and measures to prevent medical marijuana from being diverted to the black market.

“It’s about making sure we’re dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s,” in what Savino describes as he “tightest, most regulated piece of legislation that will affect the medical marijuana industry in this country.”

Passing a comprehensive medical marijuana bill in New York has overwhelming support state wide. A recent poll from Quinnipiac University found that a super majority (83%) of New York voters support medical marijuana.

If lawmakers successfully push through the Compassionate Care Act in the final days of the legislative session, New York will join the ranks of 22 other medical marijuana states — most recently Minnesota — as well as the District of Columbia.

In addition, at least eight other states have passed laws to allow access to cannabidiol oil (CBD oil), a non-psychoactive concentrate derived from marijuana, to help control seizures in children with severe epilepsy.
AFL-CIO , Compassionate Care Act , Diane Savino , George Maziarz , john defrancisco , medical marijuana , New York , New York marijuana , New York medical marijuana , NY AB 6357 , NY SB 4406 , NYS AFL-CIO , Richard Gottfried

many thanks for this info treetops
this feels like it really may happen in this go round
and we've gone round mmj bills in ny for a very long time

Gov. Cuomo wants big changes to medical marijuana bill

Gov. Cuomo wants big changes to medical marijuana bill

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/gov-cuomo-big-medical-marijuana-bill-blog-entry-1.1831030#bmb=1

Gov. Cuomo has outlined a series of concerns to lawmakers that must be addressed before he'll even consider signing the bill to legalize medicinal marijuana in New York, the Daily News has learned.
Cuomo and legislative leaders began negotiations on a potential bill last week in hopes of reaching a deal before the legislative session concludes on Thursday. But administration officials Sunday said there are a host of conditions Cuomo told legislative leaders and the bill sponsors that he wants met, some of which others say could torpedo a possible deal.
Aides said Cuomo wants to bar the smoking and sharing of medical pot. Senate bill sponsor Diane Savino (D-Staten Island) amended her bill to prohibit the smoking of medical marijuana by anyone under 21. But a Cuomo official said allowing people to smoke the drug while there are other options like vaporization, pills and food form would send the wrong message after the state has spent big money on anti-smoking measures over the years.
And allowing patients to share pot for medicinal purposes would be akin to sharing other medication, which is not allowed, the aide said.
Cuomo has also told the Legislature that he wants to classify as a felony the crime of fraudulently seeking or prescribing the drug.
And he would cut down on the 20 chronic illnesses the Legislature wants to be able to treat with marijuana. The governor wants any law to cover patients suffering from cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, MS, HIV/AIDS, diabetics, and spinal cord injuries. It would have to be a neuropathic condition with "true nerve pain", a Cuomo aide said.
Cuomo also wants the Legislature to remove a provision from its bill allowing patients to receive up to 2.5 ounces of pot every 30 days. Instead, like with other drugs, he would allow doctors to prescribe pot in one-month doses that would be decided by the physicians. Cuomo would require doctors, and not physician assistants and nurse practioners, to prescribe the pot. And he wants doctors to be pre-certified by the state Health Department to ensure they are specialists in the field they are treating with the marijuana, Cuomo officials said.
Patients who were approved in other states for medical marijuana could not carry that approval into New York, under Cuomo's plan. They would have to re-register.
Cuomo would also do away with the one-year phase in that lawmakers have pushed, believing it's too short a time frame, aides said. The state would first have to enact the rules and license growers. And growing the marijuana takes eight months, one aide said.
"It needs to be open ended so it can be done right," the aide said.
Bill sponsors would restrict the number of medical marijuana dispensaries to 20 in the first two years, with no restrictions on the number of registered organizations.
But Cuomo wants to limit the registered organizations to five, with each one required to operate four dispensaries in different parts of the state to ensure there is easy access statewide, one Cuomo aide said.
The governor is also insisting on a five-year sunset period for any law so that it can be reevaluated, officials said. "If it is working, we can re-new it; if it's not we can go down a different path," one official said.
In addition, Cuomo wants the governor to have the power to suspend any medical marijuana program if it is advised by the state Health commissioner or superintendent of state police.
And he is insisting that a proposed advisory committee that would be involved in adding or eliminating what diseases fall under the law be eliminated. Cuomo aides say the health commissioner should have the ultimate authority to decide.
“These and other things would have to be included in any final legislation for the governor to consider supporting the legislation,” a Cuomo aide said. "We think there's a lot of problems with the Gottfried-Savino bill. They haven't thought it through--the public health and public safety point of views."
Savino did not return calls for comment Sunday.
In order to allow the legislation to age the legally-required three days for a vote before the session ends Thursday, a bill must be negotiated and printed by the end of Monday, though one Cuomo aide said the governor would be willing to waive the three-day requirement if a deal is reached later in the week.

thanks for keeping this up to date TreeTops, it looks like it may FINALLY really happen in NY
but with plenty of luggage, every extra restriction will add cost for an average patient
no smoking? love to see how they will enforce that
i see some good, it's a start, but you can tell the implementation will be a mess

Hey, IGrow...Your welcome I'm sure....Jus tryin to keep everyone informed when I can...I'm 64, hope to see the plant legal been a long time coming....

NY deal on medical marijuana reached

NY deal on medical marijuana reached

Its a step in the right direction...


http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/deal-medical-marijuana-reached-blog-entry-1.1836492ew York is poised to become the 23rd state to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

But the deal announced by Cuomo with legislative leaders Thursday afternoon does not allow for the smoking of the drug.

Instead, patients would have to ingest it through other forms like vaporization or pills.

Cuomo, citing the state’s efforts to combat smoking and the fact the benefits of marijuana can be had in other forms, would not sign off on a deal that allowed the smoking of marijuana.

The Legislature is expected to enact the bill before the end of the legislative session either late Thursday or Friday.

Cuomo, who only a year ago expressed opposition to legalization medical marijuana, said the bill strikes a balance between getting needed relief that medical pot can provide and ensuring safeguards to protect against potential public health and public safety risks.

“Medical marijuana has the capacity to do a lot of good for a lot of people,” Cuomo said.

The bill covers more than half a dozen illnesses, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease, epilepsy, neuropathic diseases, and multiple sclerosis.

The number of diseases covered is far more restrictive than originally pushed by bill sponsors Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island) and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan).

In order to get a deal done, the Legislature acquiesced to many of conditions Cuomo’s outlined earlier in the week, including prohibiting smoking, putting the program under the auspice of the state health commissioner, and allowing the governor to pull the plug at any time on the recommendation of the health commissioner or state police superintendent.

The law won’t go into effect for at least 18 months as the Department of Health must develop regulations, license five companies to grow and distribute the medical marijuana, train and certify doctors, and register patients.

Savino, who earlier in the week called the prohibition of smoking a "non starter," on Thursday said cutting it from the final agreement was the only way to get a deal done. She said there are other ways like vaporization to deliver the needed relief to patients.

Critics say that legalizing medicinal marijuana is a first step toward legalizing the drug.

guess it's just the 2 of us here on this thread Treetops
yes it's a start, i can see a long climb from here, going to keep it positive

So the State Police Superintendent has the right to yank a medical bill ?


Fucking bullshit


It's a step. But read Cuomo's bill, its filled with restrictions. Feels like they are just placating us

^^^^^ I agree 100%, since he is up for reelection, this fall..

steadydets said:

So the State Police Superintendent has the right to yank a medical bill ?
...

Click to expand...

i shook my head when i saw this part
well, actually i was shaking my head a lot
i don't know if any other state has done that with any of their MMJ programs
the SPS won't be able to yank the bill, just suspend implementation anytime
which works out to be pretty similar
i don't think we're being placated, this crap just makes me mad and motivated to vote
i feel zero gratitude to Cuomo on this, but i'm still glad we got NY MMJ

The next 5 years will be interesting.