Sen. Joseph Griffo (R-Rome) joined patients and advocates as they stood with legislators in support of a bill that would establish a program to help critically ill patients obtain emergency access to medical marijuana soon.

The bill, introduced by Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard N. Gottfried and Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb in the Assembly and Sen. Griffo in the Senate, comes nearly a year after the Legislature passed New York’s medical marijuana bill and nearly 10 months after the governor urged the health commissioner to do everything in his power to get medical marijuana to children suffering from life-threatening forms of epilepsy.

Griffo represents the 47th Senate District. It includes a swath running through the middle of St. Lawrence County, from Massena to Fine, including Potsdam.

To date, not one patient has received medical marijuana, and at least four children, who might have benefitted from medical marijuana, have died since the bill was passed.

Since July, advocates have been pressuring the Cuomo Administration to create an interim emergency access program for patients who may not survive the 18 months or longer that the Governor has said he needs to get the full medical marijuana program up and running. Applications for producers were just submitted last Friday, and the earliest the program would be operational is January 2016. The Gottfried/Griffo bill offers critically ill patients a ray of hope in the face of inaction by the Cuomo Administration.

“We cannot continue to allow critically ill children like Mackenzie to suffer any longer if we have the ability to offer them relief from their life-threatening conditions,” Griffo said. “At least four children have died waiting for access to medical marijuana since the Legislature passed the Compassionate Care Act last year, so I believe we have an obligation to ensure that no other child’s life is put at further risk by delaying treatment that could lessen their pain. I have sponsored legislation that would expedite access to medical marijuana for those patients in urgent need of relief in accordance with the law, and I strongly urge my colleagues in the Senate to join me in taking action on behalf of Mackenzie and other children who desperately need this treatment.”

The original version of New York’s medical marijuana bill included a provision to provide emergency access to medical marijuana for those patients too ill to wait for the full program to become operational. The Governor’s Office had that provision removed during bill negotiations last year, leaving critically ill patients vulnerable. Just days after the bill was signed into law, two children, who would have likely benefited from medical marijuana, died from their seizure disorders. Two additional children, whose families helped lobby for the bill, have since died – one from seizures and another brain cancer.

In April, the Department of Health finalized extremely restrictive regulations for the medical marijuana program that could prevent patients from obtaining the treatment they need. Despite requests from hundreds of patients and families across the state requesting an emergency access program, the regulations contain no provisions for expediting access for those suffering from terminal or life-threatening illnesses.

The Assembly was expected to pass the bill and so patients and families now look to the Senate to take action.