PUT IT TO A VOTE OF THE PEOPLE!!!!

Some prefer Compassionate Care Act

Joseph Spector and Jon Campbell

Albany Bureau http://rochesterdemocrat.ny.newsmemory.com/

ALBANY — Groups and lawmakers in support of the legalization of medi­cal marijuana in New York criticized a plan Tuesday by the state Health Department to partner with a British pharmaceutical company to host clinical trials for a form of medical marijua­na.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the contract Tuesday after it was re­portedly signed Sunday. Lawmakers and advo­cates have been pushing for the state to push a broader measure to legal­ize medical marijuana; the bill has passed the Democratic-led Assem­bly, but has stalled in the Senate, which is con­trolled by Republicans and a small group of Dem­ocrats.

Sen. Diane Savino, D-Staten Island, who is spon­soring the legislation, said the trial is “not the an­swer.”

“It’s produced very limited benefit in the trials that have existed,” she said. “But more im­portantly, assuming it would work, it would only provide a treatment op­tion for a very small seg­ment of people compared to the Compassionate Care Act, which would provide options for tens of thousands of New York­ers.” GW Pharmaceuti­cals will provide a supply of Epidiolex, a drug high in cannabidiol, to test on children who suffer from epileptic seizures and aren’t responding to other available medications, Cuomo announced.

The agreement calls for the state to develop a trial program that will ul­timately be submitted to the Federal Drug Admini­stration. The trial pro­gram will need FDA ap­proval before it proceeds.

“No child should be forced to live with the heartbreaking effects of medication-resistant epi­lepsy,” Cuomo said in a statement.

Cuomo announced in January he would unilat­erally authorize medical marijuana on a limited ba­sis under a state law that allows for research of ex­perimental drugs. His plan called for up to 20 hospitals to participate.

According to Cuomo’s office, the newly an­nounced clinical trials will be conducted at New York hospitals and univer­sities.

The Drug Policy Alli­ance knocked Cuomo’s an­nouncement of the trial.

“It’s time to stop play­ing politics with our kids’ lives. My daughter Julia doesn’t need research, she needs a workable medical marijuana sys­tem,” Christine Emerson of Rochester, whose daughter suffers from life-threatening seizures, said in a statement. “An Epidiolex trial and the 30 year-old Olivieri proposal will help few, if any, New Yorkers.”

JSPECTOR