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Sick New Yorkers To Republicans: Stop Blocking Medical Marijuana
By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 29, 2014
Modified May 29, 2014
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By
Christopher Robbins
Published May 29, 2014
Modified May 29, 2014
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While the State Assembly passed a medical marijuana bill yesterday, the Republican-controlled Senate has a little more than two weeks to pick up the bill. Governor Cuomo's stance towards the legislation is steeped in petulance. And Dean Skelos, the Republican co-leader of the Senate, told the Times yesterday there has been no decision to take up a vote. Now, patients who would benefit from the legislation have cut two ads asking Cuomo and Skelos to stop obstructing their treatment.
The first of the ads, both produced by the Marijuana Policy Project, features Dr. Richard Carlton, a physician from Port Washington whose wife has late stage Parkinson's disease.
“Knowing there’s a medication that could help my wife, but that medication is illegal here in New York, is agonizing; it’s causing me a tremendous amount of grief," Dr. Carlton says
The second has Skelos constituent Missy Miller of Atlantic Beach, with her 14-year-old son Oliver, who suffers from constant, severe seizures from a brainstem injury.
A recent poll showed that 88% of New Yorkers support legalizing medical marijuana.
“It is unconscionable to continue depriving seriously ill New Yorkers of access to this viable treatment option,” Rachelle Yeung, a legislative analyst with MPP says in a release. "There is no rational reason for delaying this bill another year. “We hope Gov. Cuomo will throw his support behind the bill and do whatever he can to make sure it passes this year.”
Staten Island Senator and Republicrat Diane Savino is pushing hard for the bill, and says she has the support of many other senators from both parties: “I’m doing this. It’s going to happen.”
Tagged
Albany
dean skelos
governor cuomo
medical marijuana
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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