On June 13 the New York Assembly passed a medical cannabis bill by a 92-52 vote. This exciting victory marks the first time a chamber of the New York Legislature has ever passed an effective medical cannabis bill, and it caps more than five years of work by the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), and more than 10 years of work by the bill sponsor, Assembly man Richard Gottfried (D).

We've spent tens of thousands of dollars each year since 2003 on this project, and we're getting close to victory. We will continue to push hard in Albany for the purpose of making New York the 13th state to legalize medical cannabis.

The New York Senate is expected to take up the measure soon. With the support of the Republican majority leader there, as well as that of Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D), who for the first time just indicated he is open to signing such a bill. New York has a real shot of joining the 12 other states that allow seriously ill patients to use medical cannabis with their doctor's approval.

MPP will be doing everything they can to ensure that the bill becomes law.

Passing a medical cannabis law in the country's third-most populous state would be absolutely huge: The bill's passage would mean that more than one-fourth of our nation's residents would live in medical cannabis states.

Medical cannabis enjoys tremendous support in New York. A 2005 Siena Research Institute poll found that 76% of New Yorkers support allowing the medical use of cannabis, including 72% of Republicans. And medical organizations representing the state's medical schools, the state's nurses, and the state's county health officials have voiced their support for the issue. So our job is simply to convince legislators that voting in favor of medical cannabis access is a compassionate and politically, not controversial, move.

"Legislators Grapple Over How to Legalize Medical Marijuana Use"
New York Times, Danny Hakim and Michael M. Grynbaum, June 14, 2007:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/nyregion/14pot.html

MPP:
http://ny.mpp.org/site/c.grKMIYPGIqE/b.1773601/apps/nl/content2.asp
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