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…

This Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to announce an executive action creating a medical marijuana program. While it’s encouraging that he has realized patients should not be punished for using their medicine, unlike the medical marijuana bill sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried and Senator Diane Savino, Gov. Cuomo’s proposal would not create an effective program. The "State of the State" address will be streaming live at 11:30am ET on Wednesday. [caption id="attachment_7194" align="alignright"…

In a 21 to 4 vote, the New York State Assembly Health Committee approved the use, production, and sale of medical marijuana. [caption id="attachment_6275" align="alignright" width="177"] Sen. Diane Savino[/caption] Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island) and Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) introduced the medical marijuana bill (A.6357/S.4406) and are optimistic about its chances in the Senate, where it has failed in the past, due to the bill’s tight stipulations. “We’re…