Medical Marijuana Included in New York State Senate’s Budget Proposal
After years of lobbying by MPP, patients, physicians, and other allies, New York State may finally be on the verge of passing a medical marijuana law.
A Senate budget resolution that passed last night includes a provision that supports including the legal sale of medical marijuana in the state budget. We hope that as the budget process continues, this language will also be included in the final legislation and will be passed as part of the budget process.
Senate Democrats estimate that licensing fees from dispensaries could generate up to $15 million that could go toward closing the state’s $9 billion budget gap.
This is a huge development. Stay tuned to MPP’s blog for updates.
Meanwhile, today, a medical marijuana bill, S. 4041-B cleared the Senate Codes Committee in a bipartisan 11-5 vote. This was the first time the bill passed the committee.
28 comments
Very interesting. Is there any precedent for legalizing medical marijuana through a budget process like this? Would passing a budget with this provision legally necessitate some change to the NYS criminal code?
As a former (and possibly future) New York State resident, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. But I would like to know more about how exactly this process would work as opposed to typical legislative bills and ballot initiatives.
One state at a time folks , we will take back our nation. This will work for cannabis reform or any other issue our federal government refuses to respond to. Screw them …it our country.
Amen, Bruddah #2. It is our country for sure. Screw them. One state at a time and we are so close to the tipping point.
Interesting, it sounds like they, NY, will pass a for profit medical cannabis law. What is really interesting is that in CA a man in LA got 5 years in federal prison for this same act, however if he had lived in NY two years from now he would be free. The irony of how our goverment is working these days stings the soul. I pray God will watch over my children and keep them out of our goverments prisions.
Wow. A bill to put it in the state budget, now is it? This is outstanding. It seems like DC would want to do this on a federal level. You know it would birth a formidable export market, as well as a strong import market and an untouchable tourism industry. I suppose NYS sees this, and has found a way to make the MMJ law comning their stick like resin in a pipe.
As a NYC resident, I’m thrilled, this is the best news I heard this whole month. Dispensaries means growers licenses and I will do anything to get mine.
I believe there’s a medicinal marijuana ballot under review in NY state right now as well. So with this money set aside in the budget, they will have to make some kind of changes.
GO NY GO
I’m sorry for acting like an idiot, but the change is finally coming home. Fellow New Yorkers, let’s keep pushing and voting our asses off. I cant believe we’re actuallly this close, and that’s in NY. If NY state finally accepts medicinal marijuana and puts in place a dispensaries system, this would be the final call for the rest of the states to follow.
Free The Weed. Free The People.
Medical cannabis is good, but we need to legalize!
http://cannabistaxact.org/
Excellent news its about time, I had a feeling this would be the year, I just pray it all works out for all of us!!!
Thank God this is happening.
As it has been speculated that Gov. Paterson has a slim chance of repeating his intership as NYS Gov. I had a thought that maybe he would try to get MMJ going before he leaves office, which I think is the end of this year.
This is G R E A T news !
i truly hope our government listens to the voice and vote of the majority. for all disabled veterans the right to medical marijuana will be a truth for justice. for all these years marijuana has been withheld from everyone, because big pharmacy and big business knew it could not compete with a plant given to man by God Almighty. the greed of the few has been an egregious suffering of many. our nation will either embrace the freedom and liberty our votes stand for, or we will see an even greater nazification of the drug warriors. by november of this year the work of many people across this nation will come down to the ballots counted in california,washington, and oregon. that is the tipping point where we’ll know if we are still free.
I have been thinking about moving to California. I am 55 years old and last summer I drove to California to check out the cost of living out there. Medical marijuana has helped me with my sickness I have and I pray they finally pass this bill.
I love it! I like to hear the good news
Being an upstate resident I am encouraged that the senate would take that kind of step when it has been year after year the senate that has shot down our medical marijuana bills. But let’s be clear, even if signed by Gov Paterson, this does not legalize medical marijuana or set up a dispensary system in New York state. This is simply a way fund it if we can ever get the actual medical marijuana bill passed. We’ve had the rug yanked out from under us for at least 4 years running now. I’m cautiously optimistic.
As I sit here slowly dying from 7 years of major opiates to fight chronic pain,I too am cautiously optomistic.My very life depends on this bill.Reason being all the fear I have had to go through getting medical quality weed and growing.My wife has been scared to death as well.I am on 480mg of Oxycontin which turns me into a vomiting mess daily.I found out 2 days ago that I need yet another major shoulder surgery on the only “joint” of mine that has not seen the knife.I could count my hips but I am sure that will also come in time as I have degenerative joint disease.Local pot dealers laugh all the way to the bank and rip me off 9 out of 10 times.They see me coming cane in hand sweating bullets.Only to get a 5gram 1/4oz of schwag,that has no medical benefit whatsoever.I go to court thursday for a possesion charge and a dwai for passing out at the wheel and hitting 3 mailboxes.Cops treated me poorly and kept a documented chronic pain patient in handcuffs for 6 straight hours when I cooperated 100%.As soon as I said I was a chronci pain pateint the cop went from accident scene to major narcotics bust.I got caught with a gram of Trainwreck and a dirty pipe.I dont smoke in front of my kids and forgot it was in my jacket from my evening b4 bed smoke.Treated like a common criminal.This has to stop for me and everyone else that is sick and in pain.Pain that has become the centerpiece of my life,unfortunately.Come on NY.I need you. BigD
Not to mention that after I told the PIGS I was an insulin dep diabetic,no ambulance was called.And Dr. that I saw in ER ignored my pleas and drew blood.Saddder than sad.But I can smile when I know deep inside what comes around,goes around and Karma is a bitch!
oh, yeah now we are cooking with gas!! we are getting closer and the smell of green leaves are a burning !!i my self think that this is a great way to generate cash for the whole u.s.a!! we don’t have to stand tall but we do have to stand up !!and the wheels of the machine are oiled and turning but this train needs to stay the course !! there has been so much money in the courts beheading honest hard working americans now they finally see that there is more money that can be made in legal use than there is in trying to fuel the war on drug’s … wake up and start a blaze-in we need to keep on the road to legalazation.. this is a great day we live in and we are the back bone of this great nation…!
This is a great time for all New Yorkers to email their state representatives and the Governor to express appreciation for this important legislation. You can find your Assembly member by entering your zip code on the “Member Search” box on the right at the website http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/ .
Hey, let them know that this is a great thing; a polite, encouraging note goes a long way with any politician!
Thats great!! 11-5 vote 1st time thats ever happened!! Soon NY will be the smoking apple. Hell why not it is the Apple state right or wrong??
@Paul Revere – Patterson is not getting re-elected, not after the legal mess he got himself in over the last few months, it’s just not happening. I dont think Patterson would make a bold move like legalizing medicinal marijuana anyway.
@Mikey – totally agree, this is not final, but having the money set aside in the budget puts additional pressure on senators to vote on the medicinal marijuana bill which is also under review in NY state right now.
If all goes well, proper litigation will get passed by the end of this year and NYS will be the 15th state.
Considering that NY has been a police state since Bloomberg took over, this is very hopefull news for all the patients seeking relief by using medicinal marijuana.
I just have my fingers crossed that they allow dispensaries and growers licenses under the medicinal marijuana law.
GO NY
Free The Weed. Free The People.
Let’s hope and pray that this gets the go., I have had two battles with cancer and now have digestive problems along with diverticulitis, and insomnia, weed can help aid and comfort so many people and help reduce the cost of medicine that we are charged at the pharmacy, also reduce side effects of some of these drugs.. NY Pass it Now..
I am very happy for NY and the other states that have broken ground, I pray that indiana will be next. I dont really forsee it, due to the fact that our state seems to be run by tyrants.
Free the People, we can make our own decisions!
# 18 – Will
Cool new name for NY. But I think changing it to the “Big Bud” would be more appropriate. I mean, I have heard that before an apple turns to an apple, it is called a bud, anyhow. Maybe NY farmers can develop an appl,e flavored/scented strain. Florida can flavor it orange, and California can grow surfboard wax and salt water scented flowers. This is truly exciting – the possibilities are endless!!
I am so very happy to have New York pass this bill so our people in our state can finally be in there private homes taking care of themselves. Some of you will have the marijuana miracle happen and some unfortunately will go away silently. I am a sufferer of Cadasil a brain destroying disease. I use marijuana so it will no longer allow the veins in my brain to burst and turn me into an Invalid. We need to help as many as we can with a simple plant that the Lord sprinkled upon our earth.
My hope is that we get strong outdoor grow provisions in the bill.
I am a upstate ny res. and I suffer from syatica (not sure if the spelling is right) but any way I have a herniated disk in my back that pinches my syatic nerve that cause constant pain in my legs and back ,to the point where if i am not medicated there is no way i can walk around my college campus with my books in my book bag. let alone work any type of job that I have to be moving or sitting alot which is almost every job! I am not a criminal nor am I a violent or bad person at all, yet I am treated like one because i use medical marijuana in new york state. I am actually going to college to better my community by becoming a teacher but I fear that having a possesion of marijauna charge that I got when the cops illeagally came into MY HOUSE AND TOOK MY MEDICIENE(they claimed to have a noise complaint because of me practicing my music but yet some how that turned into RAIDING MY HOUSE!) will make it harder for me to find a job in a field where i can actually live a decent life not in pain. I also SUFFER from depression very badly! many so-called”anti-depressants” were perscribed to me as a teen and they led to suicidal thoughts and attempts! untill one day I smoked marijuana and realized what a difference it made in my depression and back pain(obvously I did not realize this helped bolth my problems at the same time). I HAVE NEVER HAD A SUICIDAL THOUGHT OR ATTEMPT WHILE MEDICATED ON MARIJUANA!!!!! and i just want to say that NO I am not crazy it was the pills that made my depression go to the next level! I have been using illeagal medical marijuana for over 8 years now and my life has GREATLY improved since . I need medical marijauna to get through my day without being in constant physical and mental PAIN! If my state would just realize that there are many people out there like me and not like me with life threating problems that can benifit from medical marijuana all of our lives would be greatly improved! no longer would i have to be so scared to practice my music(I am going to college to be a music teacher) in my own house becuase I am afraid the cops will come to my house and TAKE MY MEDICATION and make me pay fines and go through the embarressment of putting my picture and name in the NEWS PAPER LIKE I AM SOME KIND OF CRACK DEALER OR SOMTHING! another thing is that I now have to deal with dangerous people that carry guns just to get the medication I need! I have freinds with simular health problems and they have beed robbed at gun point, pistol whiped and shot at just trying to get the medication they need! we need safe places to go get our medication, not from some”gangsta” standing on the street corner with some swag and a stolen gun that has probably shot and maybe even killed people. I am leaving my e-mail address here and would like to hear from people who agree or disagree I would gladly debate my ligitmacy and rights to use medical marjuana. rock.star.420@hotmail.com thanks for reading.
been* sry for the typo
Hi I was wondering if anyone knows when the NY legislation will happen this year?
I belief in the laws described in our Constitution,and therefor medical cannabis should be allowed, since our Constitution states Equality for our Citizens and States.Not passing this law,will be unconstitutional on this very important Constitutional statement.Equality means,every citizen,every state of The Union, and not some of them.
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