Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who in last year’s campaign shut the door on a medical marijuana law, now says he’s reconsidering.
The Democrat says he’s talking to both sides of the issue, but hasn’t changed his view opposing the prescription use of marijuana, according to multiple reports.
In the week before his election in November, Cuomo said the dangers of legalizing marijuana even for medicinal use outweigh the benefits. Cuomo said then that he had smoked marijuana in his youth.
On Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie approved that state’s medical marijuana program.
Ms. Savino is a co-sponsor of legislation that would legalize medical marijuana in New York.
Her support for the measure stems from having witnessed her parents suffer terribly with terminal cancer: Her father Arthur died in 1990, at the age of 53; eight years later, her mother, Diane, died at the age of 61.
“Anyone who has watched a loved one struggle with a debilitating illness would do almost anything to help alleviate their pain,” Ms. Savino said.
The Senate bill, like a companion piece in the state Assembly, would give seriously ill patients the ability to purchase the drug through a registered dispensing facility with a physician’s approval. The program would be tightly controlled with patients having to register with the state Health Department, and be permitted to have no more than 2.5 ounces at a time.
The bill is still in the Health Committee, where it has been since it was introduced in 2009. For any forward motion, it must pass that committee before moving to the Rules Committee and then to the floor for a vote.
