Another Voice / Medical marijuana
Ronald Fraser: With Washington’s recusal, Albany can move ahead
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At long last, policy makers in Washington have begun to draw a line between illicit drug use and the legitimate use of drugs as medicine. In March, President Obama’s attorney general announced that the federal government will no longer prosecute medical marijuana clinics that operate in compliance with state laws. This means lawmakers in Albany are now free to decide — without interference from Washington — if marijuana will fill a medical niche in New York.
Thirteen states have already removed criminal penalties for the use of medical marijuana and actively regulate how, with a medical doctor’s recommendation, marijuana is made available for patients with cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, severe pain, glaucoma, epilepsy and other chronic conditions.
Until now, Washington has disregarded these state laws. But now, it has tacitly acknowledged that closing down state-regulated marijuana clinics is a misuse of taxpayers’ money and harmful to Americans coping with serious illnesses. Many thousands of ill people, including Joel Peacock in The Buffalo News recently, attest that smoking, vaporizing or orally ingesting marijuana relieves pain, nausea and other symptoms far more effectively than Marinol, a pharmaceutically available synthetic version of marijuana.
According to the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington-based advocate for legalizing medical marijuana, New York already has a limited medical marijuana law on the books. Under this statute, the state is authorized to distribute marijuana received from the federal government to a small number of patients taking part in research programs. In addition, in 2007, Mason-Dixon survey asked registered New York Conservative Party voters if they supported “allowing seriously and terminally ill patients to use and grow a limited amount of medical marijuana if their doctors recommended it.” Fifty-five percent of the respondents said they supported the measure.
Now, once again, the New York Legislature and Gov. David A. Paterson are actively considering a bill to make medical marijuana available in the state. Lawmakers can and should draw on the lessons learned in other states. New York need not reinvent the wheel and can easily avoid pitfalls along the way.
Washington’s new medical marijuana policy gives New York the freedom to exercise its historic role as the primary watchdog for the health and welfare of its citizens. Whether New York patients will be given greater access to medical marijuana is now up to the State Legislature.
This is a rare opportunity for elected officials in New York to take a long hard look at how harsh drug laws are undermining medical care in America. For the thousands of people desperately coping with chronic ailments, let’s not waste it.
Ronald Fraser, Ph. D., writes on public policy issues for the DKT Liberty Project, a Washington-based civil liberties organization.
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