MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL SPARKING DEBATE IN NY LEGISLATURE

ALBANY -- Legalizing marijuana for medical use, which would produce
millions of dollars in revenue for New York, continues to be part of
negotiations on the state budget, which is now more than 80 days
late, officials said Monday.

"To me the reason for enacting it is treating patients with serious
conditions fairly, but the revenue is certainly a reason to make it
part of the budget. So, all of those issues are very much up in the
air," said Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried,
D-Manhattan, who is sponsoring the bill.

Travis Proulx, a spokesman for Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson,
D-Manhattan, said Monday evening that the Senate and Assembly had
reached an agreement to include medical marijuana as part of the budget.

But Assembly officials said no deal had been reached.

Fourteen other states have authorized medical use of marijuana for
patients with serious, debilitating or life-threatening medical
conditions like HIV/AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma. It
has been found to relieve nausea, chronic pain and muscle spasms and
increase appetite.

If legislation is passed in New York, the state would have the "most
narrow and restrictive of any law in the country," Gottfried said.

Proposals to legalize marijuana for medical use have been in the
Legislature for more than a dozen years. Last year, when Democrats
took control of the Senate, was the first time both houses had
identical bills and medical marijuana was thought to have a chance of
passing. The Assembly approved a bill in 2007 and 2008. But neither
house passed a bill last year.

The legislation is on the Assembly calendar and could be voted on as
a stand-alone bill, Gottfried said. It is still in committee in the
Senate, which has never passed a medical-marijuana bill.

The Senate included the legalization of marijuana in its budget
resolution several months ago. The bill could make its way to the
floor or become part of the state budget, said Senate Health
Committee Chairman Thomas Duane, D-Manhattan, who is sponsoring the
bill. Medical marijuana should be available to people who really
need to alleviate their suffering when nothing else has helped, he
said.

"Both are still possibilities and it's possible that neither will
happen," Duane said. "This is Albany after all. Marijuana's a
controversial issue."

It's unclear exactly how much the legalization of marijuana would
raise. Gottfried said the state would receive money from registration
and licensing fees and potentially from taxes on gross receipts on
marijuana that hospitals, pharmacies and other entities dispensed.

The Senate has estimated registration and other fees would raise $15
million a year.

Advocates for legalizing marijuana for medical use are holding a news
conference Tuesday to urge Paterson to publicly support including a
medical-marijuana program in the state budget.

The Pharmacists Society of the State of New York, the state Medical
Society and the state Nurses Association are some of the groups that
have endorsed the proposal, said Vince Marrone, a lobbyist for the
Drug Policy Alliance, which also favors legalization of medical marijuana.

"I'm optimistic that the bill is going to pass one way or the other
before the end of session because I think the Legislature has
recognized that this is a bill that's good for patients and the
public strongly supports it," he said.

Opponents of legalizing marijuana for medical use think it could
increase drug abuse and crime.

The legislation would allow certified patients with state Health
Department-issued registry identification cards to possess up to 2.5
ounces of marijuana. The marijuana could not be smoked in public places.

The Health Department would register organizations to acquire,
possess, manufacture, sell, deliver, transport and distribute
marijuana for certified medical use.

Designated caregivers would be allowed to have up to 2.5 ounces per
patient for up to five people.

The legislation would not require public or private health plans to
cover medical marijuana.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1986 approved THC, the
active ingredient in marijuana, for use in synthetic pill form, but
it has been found to be more effective in its natural form.

A Quinnipiac University poll in February found that 71 percent of New
York voters think medical marijuana is a good idea and 25 percent
said no. Voters between 45 and 64 are most strongly behind the idea,
but there is support from all political, racial and regional groups.