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Medical Marijuana Is Now Legal In Connecticut
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 1, 2012
Modified Jun 1, 2012
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 1, 2012
Modified Jun 1, 2012
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Connecticut became the 17th state in the U.S. to legalize medical marijuana today. "For years, we've heard from so many patients with chronic diseases who undergo treatments like chemotherapy or radiation and are denied the palliative benefits that medical marijuana would provide," Governor Dannel Malloy said after signing the law. "With careful regulation and safeguards, this law will allow a doctor and a patient to decide what is in that patient's best interest."
Last month, the Connecticut Senate voted 21 to 13 to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 2 drug. Patients will only be able to obtain marijuana from certified pharmacists, and will have to have a debilitating condition such as cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis or epilepsy.
Recently, a Siena College poll found that 57% of New York voters support the legalization of medical marijuana, while 36% oppose it. A medical marijuana bill has been bouncing around Albany for a few months now, and it's unclear whether Connecticut's law may positively influence NY—State Senator Diane Savino, a Democrat from Staten Island whose parents and grandfather died of lung cancer, has seemed optimistic that she can get a bill through the Senate.
But for now, it remains illegal in NY State and legal in Connecticut. Hopefully impressionable Connecticuter marijuana enthusiasts won't be confused and call their doctors to find out if growing marijuana is really not illegal now.
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connecticut
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medical marijuana
pot
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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