The task at hand is to remove the artificial controls from the market of psychiatric medications.

The articles and comments I have seen concerning Governor Cuomo’s proposal to re-implement the old, defunct Oliveiri Statute by executive order have been uniformly skeptical of his plan. Some of them made the objection I did, which is that no hospital worried about losing federal funding is going to participate (although the article at the foregoing… Read More Test whether Cuomo is serious: when do we see the Executive Order?

The New York Times today said that Governor Cuomo’s proposal to distribute cannabis through hospitals may be too restrictive and called on him to support the Gottfried/Savino bill. The Times put forth different reasons then I identified (that it’s fundamentally unworkable since it would jeopardize federal funding of any participating hospital): the editorial board said… Read More The New York Times opposes the Cuomo proposal, calls on him to support the existing legislation

Upon further reflection following my first post on the Cuomo announcement and triggered by an interchange with a friend, I had the following thought: Governor Cuomo’s stated intent to resurrect and give effect to the Oliveiri Statute is a direct challenge to the Senate opponents of the medical use of cannabis. New York already is… Read More New York already is a medical cannabis state: what does the Senate propose now?

According to the New York Times, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that he will propose to distribute cannabis for medical purposes through hospitals. The idea is that he will reactivate the “Oliveiri Statute,” New York State’s medical cannabis law from the early 1980s that has sat unused on the statute books for decades.… Read More Major development in New York State: Governor Cuomo proposes a medical cannabis law – that’s functionally unworkable

This morning New York State Senator Liz Krueger appeared for a press conference on the steps of City Hall with an impressive entourage of state elected officials and activists to announce the introduction of a bill (the “Krueger Bill”) to legalize cannabis. We were all informed that there is a Assembly Member from Buffalo who… Read More New York State legalization bill: a first look

Here is the biggest news flash in a long, long time: At 11 a.m. this morning, State Senator Liz Krueger (D., Manhattan) is scheduled to appear at City Hall steps for a press conference at which she will announce her intention to introduce a full-scale cannabis legalization bill. I’m on my way. Analysis of the… Read More New York State legalization bill will be announced this morning at New York City Hall!

A recent story from the InterPress News Service says that the Mexico City government is planning to begin holding public discussion of legalizing cannabis at the municipal level. Simultaneously, three New York City mayoral candidates have come out for legalization. John Liu, Sal Albanese, and Joe Lhota are proposing legalizing at the City level. This is the… Read More Think globally, legalize locally

Here is an article on the failure of the medical cannabis bill in the 2012-2013 session of the New York State legislature. It indicates that reform advocates will try again next session to get a medical cannabis bill passed. As discussed in a previous post, it is time to give up on that campaign. I… Read More Post-mortem on the medical-use-only bill in the New York State legislature