Senate includes medical marijuana in budget plan

March 29, 2010
The use of medicinal marijuana for patients with life-threatening or debilitating illnesses may soon be legal in New York, after 13 years of cultivating public and political support. The first bill drafted on this issue was introduced in 1997.

On March 22 the Senate included in its budget resolution a provision stating the Senate's support of the legalization of medical marijuana.

The resolution simply states, "The Senate proposes the legalization of medical marijuana." There is no indication how much the Senate expects to generate from legalizing medical marijuana. The Assembly's budget resolution does not mention medical marijuana at all. However, that house has passed medical marijuana bills for several consecutive years.

"I think there is a very real chance that sometime in the next days or few weeks, medical marijuana could actually be enacted in New York as part of the state budget," said Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan. "We may be at a very exciting moment."