This September, New York’s NBC affiliate reported that Manhattan’s Union Square, one of the most densely populated and often-visited areas of the city, will play host to the borough’s first medical marijuana dispensary beginning in January 2016. But New Yorkers having visions of walking into a storefront like their Californian friends, flashing an ID and walking out with a joint or some brownies should pump the proverbial brakes. We’re nowhere near a legal cannabis culture in New York State, where the political machine thrives off the status quo so much that despite the five boroughs passing a decriminalization law in 1977, city and state law enforcement didn’t publicly recognize it until 2014. The Union Square dispensary will reflect the restrictive nature of New York’s heralded medical cannabis law, which among other limits forbids smoking cannabis in any way.<\/p>\n
On July 5, 2014, the New York State legislature voted on the state’s first medical marijuana law, which would finally allow New York patients access to medication in their hometown. While cannabis campaigners may have rejoiced at the headlines, it quickly became clear that New York’s law contained very little to celebrate. As a sadly typical hysteria swept Albany’s halls, New York’s lawmakers did their level best to limit the availability of medical cannabis as well as reaffirm their commitment to Rockefeller Law-era treatment of marijuana offenders. The most ridiculous objections came from the senate majority leader, Long Island republican Dean Skelos—who ridiculously lamented the possibility of New Yorkers “walking around with 10 joints behind each ear”—but more on him later. By the following March the effects of the law, ironically called the “Compassionate Care Act” had caused some in the assembly and senate to call the new law draconian at best and cruelly unusual at worst.<\/p>\n
Standing in almost comical contrast to much of New York’s State legislature, Richard Gottfried is the assemblyman for Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, Murray Hill, Midtown and parts of the Lincoln Center area of Manhattan, a constituency he has loyally represented for four decades. He consistently earns a place on the ACLU’s “honor roll,” campaigns for universal health care and equal rights for women, minorities and the LGBTQ community. In 1997, he introduced the first incarnation of the Compassionate Care Act, which in its original form would have given New York one of the earliest and most comprehensive medical cannabis infrastructures in the country. His 18 year crusade to change New York’s attitude toward cannabis has slowly begun to erode the status quo despite the best efforts of those across the aisle.<\/p>\n