Medical Marijuana

Compassionate Care Act Offers Slight Move Forward

New York is moving forward with the Compassionate Care Act, a rather meek piece of medical marijuana legislation that severely limits the ways in which patients can use marijuana (no smoking), and severely limits the kind of patients that can use the drug.

The bill is expected to pass the New York legislatures and move to signing by Cuomo by week's end. 

More information on the bill:

New York State Reaches Deal On Medical Marijuana, But There's A Huge Catch

Families React to the Compassionate Care Act, Medical Marijuana

New York Legislature Rewrites Marijuana Proposal

Newly revised legislation may pave the way for medical marijuana in New York, however, the law is arguably the most restrictive medical marijuana law to date. The bill, in its full form, available here, provides a detailed list of 20 ailments for which medical marijuana may be used. This is, of course, on top of the already stringent requirements laid forth by Gov. Cuomo regarding where dispensaries may be located.

When facing stern opposition to the bill, medical marijuana supporters "have revised the legislation to place tighter restrictions on how the drug can be used and who gets to use it." h/t NY Daily News

Over at The Awl, John Herrman makes clear the sad state of affairs:

The entire bill, as written now, seems to position medical marijuana less as an option than as a prescription of last resort—a little green panic button hidden behind a locked panel of swirly hand-blown glass. The section of the bill in which it justifies itself is borderline apologetic: "Although for many patients other drugs may be more effective than marihuana, the Institute of Medicine noted that 'there will likely always be a subpopulation of patients who do not respond well to other medications,' Medical marihuana must be available to those patients." To get to the Governor's desk, the stricter Senate bill would have to be reconciled with the looser Assembly version, and this is a case where caution will likely prevail.

Oregon Moves Forward with Legalization Bills

Meanwhile, in Oregon, "a bill that would ask Oregon voters if they want to legalize marijuana while leaving the regulations up to the Legislature passed its first committee last Thursday.

Senate Bill 1556 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 3-2 vote, with all Democrats supporting it and all Republicans opposing, reports Jeff Mapes at The Oregonian. The bill now goes to the Senate Rules Committee." h/t Salem News

This isn't especially surprising given the progressive bent of Oregon residents and voters. Still, in the event that Oregon legislators do pass one of the two competing legalization bills, Oregon would be only the 3rd state, after Colorado and Washington, to legalize marijuana.

Onto the 2 bills in question:

"Initiative 21 would amend the Oregon Constitution, ending criminal penalties for cannabis and permitting adult recreational marijuana use, possession and cultivation. Initiative 22, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2014, creates a commission to regulate the cultivation, processing, and sale of marijuana, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for the Oregon General Fund, helping to pay for schools, roads, and social services." h/t Salem News

Between the two bills, Initiative 22 seems like the better choice in light of the federal government's seeming interest in a bona fide development plan rather than outright decriminalization. Having said that, as well-stated by David Sarasohn in a column over at the Oregonian, the federal government's marijuana policies and public statements on legalization (or even an updated drug classification) evidence a myriad of conflicting ideas.

New York Comptroller John Liu Report on Fiscal Upside to Legalization

Nice piece over at the Village Voice Blog by Tessa Stuart, in which Ms. Stuart writes that in light of the recent positive polling, it may be time to "unearth that report commissioned by former Comptroller John Liu back in August: "Regulating and Taxing Marijuana: the Fiscal Impact on New York."

Among the reasons is the following: "Liu's office estimated that allowing medical marijuana and legalizing personal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana could raise $431 million dollars total for New York City -- $400 million in excise and sales taxes and an additional $31 million saved in law enforcement and court costs." A link to Liu's report is on the 2nd page after the jump. h/t Village Voice and Ms. Tessa Stuart

New York Medical Marijuana Supported by Large Margin

Diving a bit deeper into new polling released on Monday:

"State voters favor legalizing medical marijuana by a huge margin - 88% to 9%, according to a Quinnipiac poll." h/t Daily News

Huge margin indeed. It would be interesting to see the response if polling outfits asked individuals whether they'd favor Cuomo's limited-scope proposal versus either Colorado or California's more expansive and business-friendly medical marijuana initiatives.