NY State Medical Community Disputes Cuomo's claim

[RainDog]

Patients and healthcare providers are outraged by Governor Cuomo’s attempt to derail the legislation. Providers were particularly disturbed by Cuomo’s claims that the bill had little support from the medical community.

“As a physician and a delegate of the Medical Society of the State of New York, I fully support the Compassionate Care Act,” said Dr. Laura Decker of Kingston. “When Governor Cuomo says that health professionals don’t support the Compassionate Care Act, he isn’t speaking for me or hundreds of other doctors who know that medical marijuana can help alleviate the pain and suffering of some patients. In fact, some of our most respected health organizations, including The New York Academy of Medicine, support the bill. It’s time that the Governor listened to health professionals and patients and get behind the Compassionate Care Act.”

More than 70 organizations support the Compassionate Care Act, including the New York State Nurses Association, the Pharmacists Society of the State of New York, the New York Academy of Medicine, the Statewide Breast Cancer Network, the Hospice & Palliative Care Association of New York, 1 in 9: The Long Island Breast Cancer Action Coalition, GMHC, New York Physicians for Compassionate Care, and many more.

“As Chair of NY Physicians for Compassionate Care, I represent more than 600 New York physicians who want the ability to recommend medical marijuana for their patients,” said Howard Grossman, MD, of New York City. “Physicians understand that medical marijuana can be a very useful tool for some patients and, compared to other medications, has relatively little risk and minimal side effects. The science is clear, and the medical community stands behind the Compassionate Care Act. It’s time for Governor Cuomo and the Senate leadership to stop stalling and pass the Compassionate Care Act. I hope with the clock running out, the Senate and the Governor don’t let the bill die as they did last year and consign patients to another year of needless suffering."

http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/health-and-fitness/53742-new-york-legislators-amend-medical-marijuana-bill-to-address-concerns-of-gov-cuomo.html

The legislative session ends today. Cuomo had issued a set of complaints to legislators regarding provisions in the medical marijuana bill that, he said, would keep him from approving any bill. These include his refusal to acknowledge that marijuana may be smoked or vaporized, rather than ingested, for medical use. Savino (D-Staten Island) amended the bill to exclude smoking for any patient under 21. Cuomo wants to limit the conditions covered by the medical marijuana bill, and wants to remove the provision that the bill would be enacted within a year (he wants more time). In addition, Cuomo wants a 5 year sunset provision to reverse the current legislation.

[RainDog]

1. Health Advocates Recommend Smoked Marijuana

"There are concerns, and if we can address the concerns, then there will be a bill. But I'm not going to be part of a system that is just going to wreak havoc," Mr. Cuomo said on the radio program "Capitol Pressroom."

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Diane Savino, appeared on the same show Monday, saying eliminating smokable marijuana was a "non-starter." She said: "We've done everything possible to mitigate the issue of smoking but health-care professionals who prescribe medical marijuana and patient advocates will be the first to tell you that smoking marijuana is the only way that will provide the relief that they need. It is easier to manage the dosage."

Ms. Savino's bill would allow health-care professionals to prescribe the drug in smokable form to patients over the age of 21. It would also create a regulated growth and distribution system for marijuana and allow the drug to be prescribed in other forms, such as vapor.

If the Legislature accommodated the governor's concerns, it would be only the second state, besides Minnesota, to enact a medical-marijuana bill banning the drug in smokable form.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/medical-marijuana-debate-in-new-york-turns-to-smoking-1402966272

Cannabis can be smoked in hospitals in Israel, btw. Israel is the only nation in the world that allows smoked cannabis in hospitals, according to Haaretz.

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/.premium-1.564396


Marijuana can undo havoc, not create it. The only havoc is in the fears of drug warriors and nanny staters.

On a kibbutz south of Tel Aviv, medical marijuana helps soothe the pain of cancer patients and Holocaust survivors

On a recent afternoon in Kibbutz Naan, near the city of Rehovot, Israel, Moshe Rute took a hefty puff from his pot pipe, with the blessing of the government. His hands stopped convulsing, and he drifted into the story of how cannabis had done for him something that no person could—help him forget. A “Holocaust child,” he said the memories of his past—of hiding in a chicken barn in his native France to escape the Nazis, and the later death of his wife—haunted him.

For years Rute, 81, had been silenced by his psychological baggage and unsuccessful at sleep. But in 1988, when he arrived at the Hadarim nursing home in central Israel, where he was prescribed medical cannabis for a cocktail of ailments, he finally “opened up,” he said. “When I was a child my imagination saved me. I was alone, talking to the chickens. What saved me here was the cannabis.”

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/137423/medical-marijuana-kibbutz