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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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US: New York Gov. Cuomo to allow limited use of medical marijuana
Voice of Russia Sunday 05 Jan 2014 A spokesman for Cuomo's office declined to comment on the report. The newspaper said the policy will be far more restrictive than the laws in Colorado or California, where medical marijuana is available to people with conditions such as backaches. The move comes amid sharply shifting attitudes in the United States toward marijuana use. Earlier this week, Colorado became the first state to regulate and sell marijuana for recreational use. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have passed laws in recent years allowing for various uses of medical marijuana - but only Colorado and Washington have decriminalized its recreational use. Washington is not slated to open its first retail establishments until later in 2014. Under Cuomo's plan, 20 hospitals across New York will be allowed to prescribe marijuana to patients suffering from cancer, glaucoma and other serious diseases that meet standards to be set by the state Department of Health, the newspaper said. Cuomo's executive action does not require legislative approval, but instead relies on a provision in a state public health law that allows for the use of controlled substances for patients with cancer and other serious illnesses, it said. Long lines for marijuana sales on first legal day in Denver Colorado's ambitious experiment in cannabis policy hit a historic milestone Wednesday, when licensed stores began making the first legal sales of recreational marijuana anywhere in the world. A lot of people queued up outside the pot shops to buy retail marijuana in Denver The world's first state-licensed marijuana retailers legally permitted to sell pot for recreational use to the general public opened for business in Colorado on Wednesday with long lines of customers, marking a new chapter in America's drug culture. Roughly three dozen former medical marijuana dispensaries newly cleared by state regulators to sell pot to consumers who are interested in nothing more than its mind- and mood-altering properties began welcoming customers as early as 8 a.m. MST (1500 GMT). The highly-anticipated New Year's Day opening launched an unprecedented commercial cannabis market that Colorado officials expect will ultimately gross $578 million in annual revenues, including $67 million in tax receipts for the state. Possession, cultivation and private personal consumption of marijuana by adults for the sake of just getting high has already been legal in Colorado for more than a year under a state constitutional amendment approved by voters. But as of Wednesday, cannabis was being legally produced, sold and taxed in a system modeled after a regime many states have in place for alcohol sales - but which exists for marijuana nowhere in the world outside of Colorado. Scores of customers lined up in the cold and snow outside at least two Denver-area stores on Wednesday morning waiting for doors to open. US first marijuana retailers open in Colorado America's first retail stores selling marijuana open for business in Colorado on Wednesday, putting the western state in the vanguard of the country's evolving attitudes on legalizing the drug. Officials in the state famous for its ski resorts and breathtaking mountain vistas have issued 348 retail marijuana licenses - including for small shops - that allow for the selling of up to 28 grams of pot to people aged 21 or older starting January 1. Washington state on the US Pacific coast will follow Colorado several months from now, when it also allows stores to begin selling cannabis. Both states legalized recreational consumption of marijuana in referendums held in November last year, but the new rules coming into force allow cannabis shops. State officials here anticipate that marijuana sales will generate some $67 million in annual tax revenue. Colorado's branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) said everyone will benefit. "It will mean jobs, tax revenue for the state and local jurisdictions, increased tourism and a developing progressive new industry in Colorado," NORML attorney Rachel Gillette said. "It will also have an impact in that marijuana sales will be brought out of the shadows and the black market," she added. Michael Elliott, head of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group, noted that Colorado has licensed medical marijuana businesses since 2010, but said the influx of tourists for recreational use of pot could lead to shortages. "It's tough to know whether supply will meet demand, mainly because it's tough to know the impact of tourism on this new market," he said. "It looks like demand will exceed supply, so I anticipate that prices in Colorado will go up... But as time goes on, more businesses will open meaning there will be more supply," he added. Tax collectors are eyeing the revenue the newly legalized trade will generate, while cannabis growers and others are also rubbing their hands in anticipation. Enterprising companies are even offering marijuana tours to cash in on tourists expected to be attracted to a Netherlands-style pot culture - including in Colorado's famous ski resorts. "Just the novelty alone is bringing people from everywhere," said Adam Raleigh of cannabis supplier Telluride Bud Co. "I have people driving in from Texas, Arizona, Utah ... to be a part of history. "Over the last month I have received somewhere between four to six emails a day and five to 10 phone calls a day asking all about the law and when should people plan their ski trip to go along with cannabis," he added. Medical marijuana is already legal and regulated in 19 US states, and has been allowed in some cases for the past 20 years. And in most of them, private consumption of cannabis is not classified as a crime. But Colorado and Washington are creating a recreational market in which local authorities will oversee growing, distribution and marketing - all of it legal - for people to get high just for the fun of it. The market is huge: from $1.4 billion in medical marijuana in 2013 it will grow by 64 percent to $2.34 billion in 2014 with recreational pot added in Colorado and Washington, according to Arcview Market Research, which tracks and publishes data on the cannabis industry. Washington state is expected to open more than 300 pot shops in June. State authorities there have received applications for 3,746 marijuana business licenses, including 867 retail licenses, according to The Seattle Times newspaper, which urged caution in an editorial. "Legalization of marijuana (is) a seismic change in drug-control policy, perhaps the biggest since the end of alcohol prohibition. Supporters and skeptics need to take a deep breath," it said. http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_01_05/New-York-Gov-Cuomo-to-allow-limited-use-of-medical-marijuana-2574/
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