ALBANY — They couldn’t have picked a more doobie-ous day.
State lawmakers chose yesterday — “4/20,” the unofficial holiday of pot smokers — to announce their support of a new bill to legalize medical marijuana.
The bill would allow card-carrying patients or a chosen caregiver to keep up to 12 cannabis plants or 2½ ounces of pot for personal use if have a doctor’s permission.
Legislators are expected to formally unveil the bill today at a news conference featuring New Yorkers who say the drug would help them cope with chronic pain.
But they hashed out the details yesterday — a day celebrated by marijuana lovers with concerts, parties and legalization fund-raisers across the country.
The legislation discussed yesterday has more than tokin’ support in Albany. It’s sponsored by Sen. Thomas Duane and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, the Manhattan Democrats who control all health legislation in the Legislature.
It’s the first time identical proposals to legalize prescription pot have had majority sponsors in each house.
The lawmakers say major changes in the medical-marijuana debate, including the US Supreme Court’s recent decision to remain silent on the issue and the Democrats’ takeovers of the White House and state Senate last fall, have pushed the bill’s prospects to an all-time high.
“Support has been growing,” said Duane, who controls the Senate’s Health Committee. “Last year, there was no chance it was even going to come to the floor. At least now, it has some chance of getting some traction.”