New York Medical Marijuana Bill Draws Assembly Support Fri, March 7, 2003 More than two dozen New York State Assembly members have signed on to co-sponsor a bill that would allow seriously ill patients to legally smoke marijuana for medical purposes. The legislation, introduced by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, would require doctors to certify that patients have a serious condition and could benefit from the use of marijuana, which would allow them to receive a supply from organizations authorized by the state Health Department to grow and distribute it. "This ought to be a medical issue between a patient and a patient's health care professional," said Gottfried, who chairs the Assembly Health Committee, where the bill is pending. "It should not be the business of the Legislature or the police department." Dierdre Scozzafava, a St. Lawrence County Republican, told the Albany Times-Union that she is supporting Gottfried's bill because "when you see first-hand people who suffer ... I think it's incumbent upon us to do what we can for them in a controlled environment." Asked whether she was referring to a personal experience, Scozzafava would not elaborate. While 28 Assembly members have signed onto the bill, it lacks a sponsor in the Republican-controlled Senate. In a poll conducted Jan. 23-26 by Zogby International for New Yorkers for Compassionate Care, a pro-medical marijuana group, 66 percent of respondents favored changing state law to allow for compassionate use of medical marijuana. The poll included 834 likely voters statewide and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/03_07_03newyork.cfm