ALBANY – Medical marijuana will be coming to an area near many New Yorkers within the next 18 months, according to a bill signed by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday afternoon that established a medical marijuana program for patients suffering from certain serious conditions.
“This new law takes an important step toward bringing relief to patients living with extraordinary pain and illness,” Cuomo said. “I applaud the lawmakers and advocates whose efforts over the past years were crucial in making medical marijuana a reality in New York State.”
According to Senate co-leader Jeffrey D. Klein, the program is one of the safest and most tightly regulated medical marijuana programs in the country.
Said Speaker Sheldon Silver, “Our goal now will be to get this program up and running swiftly, safely and efficiently so that they can get the treatment they need.”
Claire Dahm, a woman who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) said she knows several people in her MS group that use – and swear by – the use of medical marijuana.
Dahm, a Norwich native currently living out of state does not use medical marijuana for her condition. It is not legal in Maryland.
“It (medical marijuana) is less harmful than the narcotic pain killers that the doctors prescribe, and it doesn’t have any of the nasty side effects: getting addicted and hurting their intestines,” said Dahm.
Dahm said she was on a daily injection for her MS and an injection thrice weekly. “The side effects were worse than the MS symptoms that I had – throwing up, flu-like symptoms, in bed for more than 15 hours per day, and they leave nasty injection marks,” she said.
She added that her neurologist agrees that medical marijuana is a really beneficial thing for MS patients.
Per a release from the governor’s office, unless the marijuana is approved by the Department of Health, it is prohibited, and “under no circumstances will smoking be allowed.”
Assemblyman Clifford Crouch, District 122 (including Chenango County), said he supported the medical marijuana bill.
“I had opposed it in the past because of the smoking issue and there was no protection on quality, pesticide contamination or responsible source,” Crouch said. “The bill that passed restricts the growing and manufacturing. It has to be grown inside under strict controls.”
Crouch added it has to be in an ingestible form or oil to be vaporized. “It can not be smoked,” he said.
With regard to the effects of the bill on local law enforcement, Norwich Police Chief Joseph Angelino said, “From my understanding of this new statute, medical marijuana will be treated similar to other controlled substances used for medical purposes.”
“I am still waiting for some guidance from the State Chief’s Association, and then I plan to meet with District Attorney Joseph McBride,” Angelino said.
“Clearly the intention of the legislation and of the Governor is to allow people who are ill to have marijuana for treatment,” said Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride. “Obviously if it is used for medical purposes only there will not be any changes in our community or in the law enforcement world. If in fact there is a pill form that becomes readily available outside the prescription market, that could create a problem, but only time will tell.”
According to Crouch, there will be 20 outlets throughout the state for dispensing the product to those with a prescription from a doctor.
The governor’s release said, “The law puts in place a 7 percent excise tax on every sale of medical marijuana by a registered organization to a certified patient or designated caregiver.” New York state will allocate 22.5 percent of proceeds to the county in which the medical marijuana was manufactured; 22.5 percent to the county in which the marijuana was dispensed; 5 percent to the State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services to be used for additional drug abuse prevention, counseling and treatment services; and 5 percent to the Division of Criminal Justice Services.
“It is unclear at this time where the growers and outlets will be to determine how much Chenango County might benefit from taxes,” Crouch said.
New York becomes the 23rd state to pass medical marijuana legislation. Marijuana remains a schedule 1 drug on a federal level, where it is said that it is not currently accepted for medical use and it has a high potential for abuse. Marijuana, federally, is the same schedule as heroin, ecstasy, and LSD.
Health insurance providers will not be required to cover medical marijuana.
The law will make it a misdemeanor for a patient to sell, trade or retain more marijuana than is needed for their own treatment.
While the bill has immediately taken effect, the release from Cuomo’s office read it may take up to 18 months for patients to obtain marijuana.