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Boyle is a member of the State Senate. Working with the Assembly, the State Senate can propose and pass laws that could legalize and tax medical marijuana.
Boyle, of Bay Shore, was elected to the Senate in 2012. Previously, he served two stints in the Assembly. He is a founding partner of the law firm Steinberg & Boyle and worked in Washington, D.C., for then-Reps. Rick Lazio and Frank Horton.
I support the legalization of medical marijuana for patients with specific pain management needs, so long as the drug’s use is smokeless and its distribution is highly regulated and controlled. With twenty-one states having already passed laws allowing the use of marijuana in a medical form, it’s time for New York’s lawmakers to work in a bipartisan fashion to do the same. Doing so will help to provide compassionate pain relief to patients who need it most.
With a medical professional’s recommendation and parental consent, medical marijuana has shown to be an effective treatment of certain types of epilepsy in children. Recently, I met with a two-year old child who suffers from over 1000 seizures a day and whose parents have strongly advocated for the legalization of medical marijuana in our State. Other medications that have been prescribed for their child have failed to stop the seizures and have potentially serious side effects such as blindness.
Legislation that Albany considers regarding legalizing medical marijuana must enact stringent controls to prevent our State from becoming the next Colorado or Washington State, where adults’ recreational marijuana use is legal. As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, I am currently holding meetings throughout the State to address the ever increasing numbers of lives that are destroyed and lost as a result of drug abuse and addiction. And it all begins with the “recreational use” of a drug. Any proposed legislation must serve the specific purpose of helping patients with legitimate medical needs.
I do not support medical marijuana via smoking because of the negative effects we know it would have on the respiratory system. Rather, I would endorse the use of oils, edibles, pill forms and vapors.
While I agree that medical marijuana should be limited to those with specific serious illnesses, Governor Cuomo’s plan may leave a majority of those needing medical marijuana without access by limiting distribution to only 20 hospitals in New York State. The legalization of medical marijuana needs to be addressed through legislation and on a larger scale.
With this year’s legislative session coming to a close, my colleagues and I in Albany should move forward with medical marijuana legislation that will help our constituents with their medical needs while placing controls that will prevent further growth of the drug’s recreational use.
What do you think?