On Saturday, July 5, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Compassionate Care Act into law, making New York the 23rd state with an effective medical marijuana law. The law goes into effect immediately, although patients are not expected to have legal protections or safe access to medical marijuana until 2016. 

The law’s passage is the product of many years of work by legislative champions, led by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, and, more recently, Sen. Diane Savino, patients, their loved ones, and advocacy organizations, including MPP and Compassionate Care NY. Thanks to each and every one of you who made this law possible.

While there are many reasons to rejoice, the law is unfortunately much more limited than what was introduced, largely due to amendments Gov. Cuomo insisted upon. Many seriously ill patients will be left behind, at least initially.

Only patients with one of 10 serious conditions will qualify, although the health department is allowed to add qualifying conditions. The law allows far too few dispensaries by providing for no more than five growers, with up to four dispensing locations each. Patients will not be able to smoke cannabis. A summary of the new law is available here.

While this is a vital step forward, the work to ensure that all seriously ill patients who can benefit from medical cannabis have reasonable access to it is not done. Stay tuned for updates on how you can help improve New York’s new medical marijuana program.

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UPDATE: The York Board of Selectmen has scheduled a public hearing on the petition during their next meeting on Monday, July 28.

A petition that would allow adults to use marijuana has gotten the required amount of signatures and has been submitted to the Board of Selectmen, Seacoast Online reports. The Board of Selectmen in York is scheduled to consider and possibly take action on the petition later today. According to MPP Maine Political Director David Boyer, the petition needed 100 signatures in order to be submitted to the Board of Selectmen. It received 174 signatures and was submitted on June 19. Should the Board decide against holding a public hearing on the petition, advocates would have 30 days to collect 600 signatures in order to bring the petition to a public vote.

The petition, if passed, would allow York residents over 21 to use or be in possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana. It would remove penalties for marijuana possession and allow individuals to consume it privately. Public use would still be prohibited, according to organizers. This is similar to an initiative that MPP helped to pass in Portland, Maine last year that allowed adults to be in possession of 2.5 ounces or less of marijuana. The decision on York’s petition is forthcoming and should be given by the end of the day.

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[caption id="attachment_7827" align="alignright" width="240"] Dr. Sue Sisley[/caption]

This week, University of Arizona professor and leading medical marijuana researcher Dr. Sue Sisley was fired from her position at the university. The University of Arizona refused to renew Dr. Sisley’s contract after advocates engaged in a contentious political struggle with state lawmakers to secure funding for her clinical study on the beneficial effects of marijuana on veterans with PTSD. Dr. Sisley cites her medical marijuana advocacy and research as the reason for her abrupt dismissal. The university’s action will significantly delay — or even end — her groundbreaking research, which had finally received almost all of the necessary federal approvals.

According to the LA Times:

Sisley charges she was fired after her research – and her personal political crusading – created unwanted attention for the university from legislative Republicans who control its purse strings.

“This is a clear political retaliation for the advocacy and education I have been providing the public and lawmakers,” Sisley said. “I pulled all my evaluations and this is not about my job performance.”

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In March, the National Institute on Drug Abuse moved to approve Sisley's research. The decision came as a surprise because some researchers have long accused the institute of hostility to proposals aimed at examining the possible health benefits of marijuana.

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Sisley’s study was designed to involve veterans who would use marijuana in an observation facility on campus. She had lobbied state lawmakers for approval to use state funds collected at medical marijuana dispensaries to help pay for the work. When a powerful Republican senator maneuvered to block that money, some of Sisley’s allies launched an unsuccessful recall effort.

Dr. Sisley has long been at the forefront of medical marijuana science, often traveling to testify in legislative hearings to support compassionate bills and derail the misinformation that is so often repeated by opponents of reform. MPP wishes her luck in appealing this decision and continuing her valuable research.

[caption id="attachment_7830" align="aligncenter" width="500"] (Photo: Mauro Whiteman)[/caption]

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The provisions of SB 247 took effect today, moving Vermont’s marijuana policies yet another step forward. This new law eliminates the cap of 1,000 patients who may access dispensaries, allows naturopaths to certify patients, and allows dispensaries to deliver marijuana to patients.

But that’s not all: Legislators also authorized a study of whether post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) should be added as a qualifying condition, along with a study of how marijuana legalization and regulation would impact Vermont.

It’s great to see that legislators are responding to the will of voters, who strongly support ending marijuana prohibition. A recent Castleton poll commissioned by MPP found that 57% of Vermonters support regulating marijuana similarly to alcohol. Only 34% said they were opposed.

But it will take more than a majority to get this passed into law in the next session. MPP is preparing to embark on a statewide organizing and coalition-building effort that will maximize our chances.

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It’s been exactly six months since legal retail marijuana sales began in Colorado, and today is the first day that retail marijuana business licenses are open to all applicants — not just those who previously held medical marijuana licenses.

Click here for an application checklist and the required application forms. Please note that these licenses would not go into effect until October 1, 2014, and businesses would still require local approval.

In these brief six months, the Centennial State has already experienced overwhelmingly positive results! There has been a 10.1% decrease in overall crime from 2013. As of May, the state had collected $10.9 million in taxes from adult use stores alone. The Department of Revenue has licensed nearly 600 retail marijuana businesses — including dispensaries, cultivators, and infused products manufacturers — and 10,043 individuals to work in the industry.

Collateral sectors are also feeling the love, especially in the tourism industry. Colorado ski resorts enjoyed a record-breaking season, with 12.6 million visitors, and 14 million Denver tourists spent an all-time high of $4 billion. More families and businesses are also moving to the Mile High City. In 2013, Denver attracted more sales of single-family homes last year than during the housing boom, and is ranked among the top commercial real estate markets to watch.

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Jacksonville-based attorney John Morgan has given a multi-million dollar donation to the medical marijuana campaign in Florida, Jacksonville.com reports, and will now invest even more in helping seriously ill Floridians find relief. Morgan has added $4 million of his own money in support of Amendment 2, a medical marijuana ballot initiative that will be voted on in November. This amendment was proposed by medical marijuana proponents United For Care. Morgan claims that his support of the amendment is personal: His father and brother have used marijuana medically to alleviate pain from cancer and paralysis, respectively. He hopes that his support will help families like his treat themselves and their loved ones without having to fear arrest. You can find more information about the campaign here.

As MPP has reported, an overwhelming majority of Florida voters support allowing adults to use medical marijuana. A Quinnipiac Poll reported that medical marijuana has an 88% approval rate. Amendment 2 only needs 60% support in order to be adopted. The trend is definitely favoring medical marijuana and the state constitution amendment has a very good chance of passing. Florida lawmakers passed a bill earlier this session that is supposed to permit a limited number of patients to access specific low-THC, high-CBD marijuana oils to treat seizure disorders. Unfortunately, this bill will leave the vast majority of patients without safe and legal access, unlike Amendment 2.

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The rollout of Massachusetts’ medical marijuana program has been proceeding more slowly than anticipated, but a major milestone was reached last week with the approval of 11 dispensary applications. The Department of Public Health granted eleven provisional certificates on Friday, and it’s possible that some of the approved dispensaries will be ready to serve patients before the end of this year.

The department had previously given preliminary approval to 20 applicants, but, after further review of the applications, nine were rejected. Massachusetts’ law authorizes up to 35 dispensaries, so these rejected applicants and others will be allowed to reapply in 2015.

Additionally, it’s disappointing that the state has not yet made it possible for patients to apply for ID cards. However, with dispensaries planning to open in only a matter of months, it seems likely that the ID card issue will soon be resolved.

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Former President Bill Clinton spoke Sunday on Meet the Press expressing his belief that states should ‘experiment’ with allowing adults to use marijuana recreationally, Washington Post reports. “I think we should leave it to the states,” Clinton said. “If the state wants to try it, they can. And they’ll be able to see what happens.” Though this seems to be a new take from the former president, he claimed that there are still many questions to be answered. He said, “This really is a time when there should be laboratories of democracy, because nobody really knows where this is going. Are there adequate quality controls? There’s pot and there’s ‘pot’; what’s in it? What’s going to happen? There are all these questions.” This is a similar stance to that of Clinton’s wife, Hilary, who recently changed her official position.

This is in stark contrast to how President Clinton treated the issue during his presidency. Clinton’s administration wanted to punish doctors for even discussing medical marijuana as an alternative treatment with patients. Many who look at this see it as the act of a shrewd politician who has changed his position due to a shift in the political landscape. It could, however, be indicative of where the Clintons are moving when it comes to the evolution of the issue of drug policy.

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Spurred on by recent stories of epileptic children finding relief by using marijuana extracts that contain high amounts of cannabidiol (CBD), lawmakers have begun adopting bills allowing for medical marijuana to be used as long as it is minimally psychoactive, the Denver Post reports. The oil in these stories is made from specific strains of marijuana that are high in CBD and low in THC, the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana. The CBD-rich oils have been shown to dramatically decrease the frequency and severity of seizures in many cases, though conclusive research is still lacking at the present. However, the potential of CBD-rich marijuana’s effects has generated a lot of public interest. The laws, advocates argue, may only be symbolic. Because laws in states like Alabama are so limited in scope, they are likely to be practically impossible to enforce. Still, others believe that these laws are but the first steps on the road towards greater acceptance and more legislation allowing the medical use of marijuana.

Unfortunately, these bills do little to help the vast majority of patients who could benefit from using whole-plant marijuana and its extracts. In most medical marijuana states, seizure sufferers make up only a small percentage of total licensed patients. Low-THC marijuana products are not effective in treating many of the conditions for which marijuana has been shown to be beneficial, particularly chronic pain.

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[caption id="attachment_7800" align="alignright" width="200"] Sen. Mike Folmer[/caption]

This afternoon, the Pennsylvania Senate Law and Justice Committee voted unanimously to approve a medical marijuana bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Mike Folmer and Sen. Daylin Leach. The bill is expected to proceed to the Senate Appropriations Committee next.

This bipartisan measure would allow seriously ill Pennsylvanians to safely and legally use marijuana to treat their medical conditions. These patients and their loved ones should not face the risk of arrest and prosecution, or be forced into the illicit market, where marijuana may be laced or contaminated and where they may even face the threat of violence, simply to obtain their medicine.

Marijuana is already legal for medical use in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Once New York’s bill is signed into law, Pennsylvania will be nearly surrounded by states with such compassionate measures. Pennsylvanians deserve the same treatment options as their neighbors.

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