replace with your keywords replace with your keywords replace with your keywords replace with your keywords replace with your keywords replace with your keywords replace with your keywords replace with your keywords replace with your keywords replace with your keywords replace with your keywords replace with your keywords

"

"I'm just a bill, yes I'm only a bill..."

Rob Robinson
 by Rob Robinson But how long do
I have to wait to become a law? What does medical
marijuana have to do with School House Rock?

Who remembers school house rock? "I'm just a bill, yes
I'm only a bill"? Like the school house rock song:
"I'm just a bill" says: "Its hard to become a law".
Well it is if you are talking about (egads!) medical
marijuana. Because if you are talking about a
Veteran's ability to cancel a rental agreement or
increasing legislative pay wages, bills can become
laws in less than a session. So why does medical
marijuana, with its overwhelming support, continue to
be "stuck in committee, where I sit here and wait",
while far less popular bills get priority?

For over 9 years medical marijuana has remained
without a vote or even proper debate in the New York
State Senate and Assembly. Thankfully the past several
years, momentum has been building to protect patients
from being arrested for the medical use of marijuana
in New York. During the 2005-2006 legislative session,
a medical marijuana bill introduced by Assembly Health
Committee Chair Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan)
garnered 43 cosponsors. More good news is that for the
first time in recent history, a member of the majority
party of the Senate, Rep. Vincent Leibell (R-Putnam
County) has sponsored a medical marijuana bill.

The leadership of both chambers, Senate Majority
Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer) and Assembly
Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), have expressed
support for allowing the medical use of marijuana.
Yet, once again, the medical marijuana bills are stuck
in the committee stage. Our new Governor says he does
not support medical marijuana. So our new Governor and
legislators need to hear a clear message from New
Yorkers. We must tell them that protecting the
seriously ill from arrest has to be a priority this
session. A letter, or e-mail, even better yet a visit
or phone call can do much more than most people think.

There is no excuse for inaction. Both in the
legislature, and by the citizens of NY. Medical
marijuana has garnered overwhelming support in both
the medical community and among the public in New York
(and beyond). Seventy-six percent of New Yorkers
(Zogby), the state medical society, the state nurses
association, Hospice and Palliative Care Association
of New York State, New York StateWide Senior Action
Council, Gay Men's Health Crisis, and New York AIDS
Coalition all support New York's medical marijuana
legislation. Even the federally chartered National
Institute of Health concluded in 1999 that nausea,
appetite loss, pain and anxiety all can be mitigated
by marijuana.? While the study expressed reservations
about smoked marijuana due to the health risks
associated with smoking, the study team concluded that
until another mode of ingestion was perfected which
could provide the same relief as smoked marijuana,
there was no alternative. The list of supporters goes
on and on, and yet the sick and dying are still
waiting for relief.

Oh, and as for those that say we can't legalize
medical marijuana because of federal laws: less than
5% of marijuana arrests in NY are by the feds. All
other arrests are made under state law (in fact, over
50,000 arrests, about one-fourteenth of the entire
country's marijuana arrests occur in NY city each
year). Besides, NY has a great history of ignoring
federal law that did not agree with NY state law (one
that comes to mind are anti-abortion laws).

We are not talking Cheech & Chong here. We are talking
about a doctor making a recommendation to their
patient. Lets get politicians and law enforcement out
of the relationship between patient and doctor. This
is long overdue. The legislators are just getting back
to work. Lets make sure they do their jobs. We can
only expect them to do what we want if we tell them
what that is. Then we can end the song like school
house rock does: "They signed you bill, now your a
law!"

Click here to contact your legislators about the NY medical
marijuana bill


Click here to write a letter to the editor in support of medical
marijuana
*

Effecting Positive Change Through
Education, Awareness, Cannabis & Music,

Rob Robinson
Executive Director - NY NORML (NY State Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws)
Senior Activist - NY State CAN (Cannabis Action Network)
Adviser - New Paltz NORML / SSDP (Students for Sensible Drug Policy)

Founder - NY Harvest Fest
Owner - Damn Sam Productions
Co-Publisher - Notes on the Scene

www.nynorml.org
www.nystatecan.org
www.newpaltz.edu/norml

www.nyharvestfest.com
www.damnsam.com
www.notesonthescene.com

(845) 943-8883