MEDICAL MARIJUANA ON THE MOVE IN ALBANY AND NYC

A bill that would legalize the use of medical marijuana in New York
state passed one of its first legislative hurdles Wednesday at the
state capitol in Albany, while two days earlier in New York City a
resolution expressing the city council's support for a state medical
marijuana bill also moved forward.

The medical marijuana bill in Albany, A0576, was okayed by the
Assembly's Health Committee on an 18-6 vote a day after dramatic and
sometimes wrenching testimony before the committee, including some
from surprising sources. "If you have ever seen anyone on their
deathbed, dying in agony, screaming in pain every day as I had with my
father who had cancer, the risks of smoking marijuana are outweighed
by the therapeutic benefits," conservative Assemblyman Robert Prentiss
(R-Colonie) told his colleagues.

The bill is rapidly picking up bipartisan support in the
Democratic-dominated Assembly, with 41 Democrat and seven Republican
cosponsors. It is now headed for the Assembly Codes committee, then
the Ways and Means committee before coming up for a floor vote.

"We are on our way," said Vince Marrone, who is working the issue as a
paid lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project (http://www.mpp.org).
"We got through that first committee in good shape, and the Codes
committee, which must review all legislation that impacts the criminal
justice system, already approved it once last year," he told DRCNet.
"And we have Republicans on the Ways and Means committee who will vote
for this, so I think it is safe to say we will have this bill on the
floor of the Assembly by the end of the year. The question then
becomes whether the leadership will act on it."

But Marrone is already looking forward to the next phase: the
Republican-controlled state Senate. "We do have a bill introduced in
response to constituent requests by a Democrat from Brooklyn, but that
doesn't really help in the Senate," Marrone explained. "We need
Republicans. I'll be meeting with some Republican members next week.
There are a number who say they will vote for it, but they are nervous
about getting out there and sponsoring it. I hope to help them get
over that."

Even though some of his colleagues are hesitant, Assembly Senate
Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick), said his chamber will also
consider the bill. "We're going to look at that," he told the Albany
Times Union Tuesday. "We're very aware that there are addictive
substances that have a medical value."

The broad support for the bill in the state's medical community may
help ease Republican fears. So far, the bill has been endorsed by
medical societies in New York, Westchester, Putnam, Orange, Rockland
and Duchess counties, and it is being supported by the state Health
Department's AIDS Advisory Council, the New York State Association of
County Health Officials, the New York State Nurses Association, the
Hospice and Palliative Care Association of New York State, the
Statewide Senior Action Council, Gay Men's Health Crisis and the New
York AIDS Coalition.

But despite those endorsements, Gov. George Pataki (R) remains
opposed. "The Health Department tells us, and many health experts
agree, that there are already approved legal medications in place that
treat symptoms like nausea and help deal with pain management," a
Pataki spokesman told the Times Union. He did not identify those
health experts.

Meanwhile, the city councils of Albany and Buffalo have passed
resolutions supporting a medical marijuana bill, and the New York City
council took steps in that direction this week as well. After being
besieged by Tom Leighton and his Marijuana Reform Party
(http://www.marijuanareform.org) for nearly a year on the issue, the
council's health committee took it up Monday.

"It went great," Leighton told DRCNet. "We already had 13 sponsors
going in and we picked up four more during the hearing. This is
something we've been working on almost single-handedly, with no
movement financial support, for a long time."

The committee heard from a number of patients and doctors, including
testimony from National Review editor Richard Brookhiser, who told of
his struggle with testicular cancer and chastised committee
conservatives for failing to support the resolution. Bronx resident
Ann Wilson provided some of the hearing's most moving moments, though,
as she described how her brother had used marijuana to ease the
side-effects of chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer before he died two
years ago. "How can we deny marijuana to our friends and loved ones
when it has the potential to ease their pain and possibly prolong
their life?" an emotional and tearful Wilson asked.

That was enough to prompt her councilmember, Madeline Provenanzo (D),
to ask then and there to be added to the list of the resolution's supporters.

One important medical marijuana authority who was unable to give oral
testimony was Dr. John Morgan of the New York University School of
Pharmacology and coauthor of "Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts."
Although originally scheduled for the first panel of the hearing, he
was bumped from that group and the next panel as well, at which point
he left.

"That was a shame," said Leighton, who himself sat through hours of
hearings before getting a chance to address the council at the end of
the session. "There was a point when committee members were raising
questions about any downsides, and no one on the panel was really
prepared to address it. We needed a man with Morgan's scientific and
medical expertise up there then."

With 51 members on the health committee, committee chair Councilwoman
Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) is cautiously counting votes before
calling a vote. Although she congratulated the committee for putting
the issue "front and center," she said she wanted to gauge support
across the committee. No date is set yet.

Securing passage of the resolution would be an important signal to
Albany, said Leighton. "We're talking about 40% of the state's
population here. If you have a legislative body that represents those
people saying we want medical marijuana, that's not small potatoes."

MPP's lobbyist, Marrone, who addressed the committee on one of the
early panels, pointed out that most New York City members of the state
Assembly already support the medical marijuana bill, but still saw
passage of the resolution as an important step. "It would draw more
media attention and it would convey a sense of momentum," Marrone
said. "It would show the politicians that the issue is not as
politically scary as they think it is."

Visit http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A05796 to read the text and
legislative history of the medical marijuana bill online.