New York may become the 21st state in the United States to legalize marijuana for limited use, especially for people suffering serious illness, according to state officials.
According to the New York Times, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced his plans to pave way for limited marijuana use through an executive action.
Earlier by Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat resisted attempts to legalize the banned drug. He will formally announce the decision in his state of the state speech Wednesday.
The shift comes with reports on other states taking increasingly liberal stand on marijuana use, especially the state of Colorado, where thousands queued in to buy the drug for recreational use since it became legal on Jan. 1.
Colorado this week became the first US state to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes.
Reportedly, marijuana use in New York would be more restrictive than Colorado or California where people with mild medical conditions such as backaches are eligible to buy the drug.
In case of New York, 20 hospitals across the state would be permitted to prescribe the drug to patients with cancer, glaucoma or other such debilitating diseases. The standards would be set by the New York State Department of Health.
New York remains the Unites States’ most penalizing state for those caught using or dealing with banned drugs, especially marijuana.
The move, although falls short of full legalization of marijuana but is reportedly a step closer to marijuana-use policies sought by supporters and lawmakers elsewhere.
Reportedly, twenty states and the District of Columbia allow for various uses of medical marijuana except Colorado and Washington which have decriminalized its recreational use.
While the policy U-turn would place New York in a growing list of states which have taken an increasingly progressive stance on marijuana use, it is too soon to say when it will actually be available to patients.
“The move comes amid a nationwide campaign to relax laws on marijuana use which has been buoyed by shifting attitudes on the drug. In October, for the first time in a Gallup poll, a majority of Americans, 58 percent, said they favored the legalization of marijuana” Al Jazeera reported.