Albany – Today, more than a dozen patients, families, caregivers and healthcare providers from across New York are gathering in Albany to press for passage of a comprehensive medical marijuana bill known as the Compassionate Care Act. The advocacy day follows a recent wave of growing support for the measure, including from The New York Academy of Medicine.
Patients and caregivers from around the state are calling on the Senate and Assembly to pass the Compassionate Care Act. The group includes:
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patients, including cancer survivors from the Rochester area;
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members of the Decker family, who were forced to leave their Kingston home and move to Colorado so their daughter Mabel, who has a serious epileptic seizure disorder, could participate in a workable medical marijuana system; and
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healthcare providers who want the ability to treat their patients with medical marijuana
In addition to patients, providers, and caregivers, dozens of organizations have signed on in support of the bill. Most recently, the prestigious New York Academy of Medicine came out in support of the bill citing the scientific research demonstrating medical cannabis’ efficacy and the potential of medical cannabis to provide a safe, legal alternative to opioids for some pain and palliative care treatment.
What: Patient Advocacy Day with patients, healthcare providers, and parents — available for interviews
When: Tuesday May 6, 2014
Location: Outside Senate and Assembly Chambers, Capitol Building Albany, NY
“Patients need and deserve an effective, comprehensive medical marijuana system in New York,” said gabriel sayegh, state director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “That’s why the legislature should move immediately to pass the Compassionate Care Act. No more delays, no more excuses, no more ridiculous, unworkable so-called “alternative” proposals. It’s time to provide relief and compassion to patients in New York – it’s time to pass the Compassionate Care Act.”
A recent Quinnipiac poll found that 88 percent of New Yorkers support medical marijuana. There are 21 states, and the District Columbia, that have passed laws creating legal access to medical marijuana for patients with serious and debilitating conditions. Advocates, many of whom have already waited years for relief, have vowed to return to Albany every week until the bill is passed.
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