Marijuana Policy Project

Assembly Member Tom Kirwan (R-Ulster/Orange) has formed an odd political ally in legalizing medicinal marijuana in New York State.

Kirwan, a self-described "right-wing screwball," co-sponsored a bipartisan bill, drafted by Assembly Member Richard Gottfried (D–Manhattan), to legalize medicinal marijuana.

"Who am I to second-guess a doctor if they think this could help someone with chemotherapy?" Kirwan said. “It's a measure of humanity to ease a person's pain.”

Gottfried, chair of the Health Committee, has introduced the bill every two years since 1997. This summer, Gottfried garnered enough votes from Republicans and Democrats to pass the bill in the Assembly, bringing the state another step closer to legalizing medicinal marijuana.

The victory, Gottfried said, has been a long time coming.

"It is striking that the bill has always had broad ideological support," Gottfried said. Gottfried attributed the bipartisan support to the number of legislators who have had terminally ill friends or family members who could have benefited from medicinal marijuana.

"I think direct experience with family and friends" who can benefit from medicinal marijuana, Gottfried said, "has produced a lot of what might seem to be surprising support."

Then, with the support from a legislator like Kirwan, a 28-year veteran of the New York State police who spent four years on the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, the bill became less controversial.

For many, relief for terminally ill patients seemed to trump partisan ideology. That rationale, however, has not convinced some legislators in the State Senate to lend their support. Several of the Assembly bill’s provisions — like those dealing with the growing and distribution of the marijuana — have made passage in the State Senate difficult.

A 2005 Supreme Court decision that gave federal authorities the power to arrest marijuana growers despite state law has also slowed down the bill's passage. Legislators in both chambers seem uninterested in passing a law that would be useless or even detrimental to New Yorkers.

Given that federal authorities will not arrest or prosecute individual growers, the Assembly bill allows patients to do the growing themselves, in one of the provisions that did not sit well with Senate Republicans.

"It has been very important to the Assembly that a growing option be included in the bill or else the bill would be almost a nullity," Gottfried said.

The bill is currently in the State Senate's Rules Committee. If the committee does not vote on the bill by Dec. 31, the Assembly will have to pass the bill again.

"We have not been able to have conversations with the Senate at this stage, this year," Gottfried said. "I am hoping that time will come."

State Sen. Vincent Leibell (R-Putnam), sponsor of the State Senate's medicinal marijuana bill, wants stricter control of marijuana production.

"We're not going to let people grow marijuana at home for medical reasons," Leibell said.

Sponsors of the bills in both houses agree medicinal marijuana is another tool in pain management and should be legalized, but cannot come up with a suitable way to sidestep the Supreme Court decision.

Leibell said the detractors of the Assembly's bill believe the provisions are not strict enough to avoid the abuses of the law in states like California.

"This is for a very limited medical reason, just as we would authorize the use of morphine," Leibell said.

In addition to the State Senate bill's narrow qualifications for medicinal marijuana, Leibell wants the drug to be prescribed by a doctor and obtained from limited, appropriate places like pharmacies.

"Those are pretty tough restrictions to make sure we do not have abuse to what we're trying to accomplish," he said.

The restrictions, Leibell noted, would not be necessary if Congress passed a statute that would allow medicinal marijuana to be sold and grown without fear of federal prosecution.

"There are a load of unanswered questions," Leibell said. "These questions could clearly be answered if Congress took action."