N.Y.’s 1980 Medical Pot Law Idles as Ganja Granny Renews Push
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New York isn’t counted among the 18 U.S. states allowing medical marijuana. It should be.
A 1980 state law set up a program requiring the Health Department to distribute marijuana cigarettes using pot obtained from the federal government or a state police evidence locker. In the first year, New York distributed more than 800 joints to 45 patients, according to a 1982 legislative report. The program was shut a few years later after it grew cumbersome and patient interest waned. It’s still on the books.