Sick New Yorkers suffering from conditions that could be helped by medical cannabis protested outside the Long Island office of state Senate co-president Dean Skelos this week, demanding action on a stalled medical cannabis bill. Senate Finance Committee Chairman John DeFrancisco has said that he will allow the bill to move forward with the okay of Senate leadership.
The bill, which has already been approved by the state General Assembly on a 91 to 34 vote, would legalize the use and possession of up to 2.5 ounces of herb for qualifying patients as well as allow for state-regulated medical marijuana dispensaries and grow facilities. The Senate version would not allow for home cultivation and would ban patients under 21 from smoking medical cannabis. But sponsors of both bills say they are meeting to iron out the differences for a last-minute effort at legalizing medical cannabis in the Empire State.

Last week, we shared news about the U.S. House voting to defund DEA medical marijuana raids in states where the substance is legal. But that doesn’t mean the count was unanimous — even from pot-friendly Colorado.
Indeed, three of Colorado’s seven representatives voted against the defunding amendment, including U.S. senatorial candidate Cory Gardner — and a representative for NORML, among the nation’s most prominent marijuana-advocacy organizations, confirms that it hopes to target officials like him for anti-pot votes.

U.S. Representative Steve Stockman is the Texas lawmaker who is probably least likely to whip out a joint at the party and share it with everyone. He likes families, straight people, guns and fertilized eggs that might one day become babies. He hates liberals.
Not as much as he hates the federal government, though, which is why he was the only Texas lawmaker to sign a new amendment that could make getting medical pot a little easier.