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Source: dank depot via flickr

Mayor Michael Bloomberg blasted medical marijuana advocates like local State Senator Diane Savino, declaring that the whole issue is a manufactured pretense for legalizing the drug. The Huffington Post is reporting that Bloomberg is adamantly opposed to Savino’s efforts to make medical marijuana legal statewide.

On John Gambling’s radio show, Bloomberg let loose a stream opinions on medical marijuana and marijuana in general.

“There is no medical. This is one of the great hoaxes of all time,” Bloomberg said. The mayor, who has already gone on record admitting that he smoked marijuana in his youth, cited the increased strength of present day weed as a factor for being an opponent on the issue, albeit in a folksy manner.

“The bottom line is, I’m told marijuana is much stronger today than it was 20, 30 years ago,” Bloomberg said.

What are we supposed to take from these statements? That it was okay for Bloomberg to enjoy marijuana in his youth, unpunished, but it is not okay for someone to enjoy it now just because somebody told him that the drug is much stronger today? Also, if that person is suffering from a terminal disease, they shouldn’t have access to it either?

Bloomberg also expressed concerns that if marijuana is legalized, drug dealers will just switch to selling harder drugs.

“[D]rug dealers have families to feed. If they can’t sell marijuana, they’ll sell something else. And the something else will be something worse. The push to legalize this is wrongheaded,” Bloomberg added.

First of all, more dangerous drugs have always been available to those seeking them. Drug dealers won’t be able to magically increase the market for cocaine or heroin, for instance, just because marijuana would be available legally. Who knows – maybe they’ll sell Bloomberg Terminals.

An actual expert on the issue, Dr. Sunil Aggarwal, associate member of the New York Academy of Medicine and vice-chair of NY Physicians for Compassionate Care, trashed Bloomberg’s off-the-cuff comments on the serious issue.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s statement that medical marijuana is a hoax is tantamount to saying that the moon landing was faked,” the Huff Post reported Aggarwal saying. “Marijuana, given in oral and inhaled forms, has been shown in large, gold-standard, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trials conducted at major medical centers to relieve pain and muscle spasm, and stimulate appetite and weight gain in patients with wasting syndromes.”

State Senator Diane Savino, who is co-sponsoring a bill that seeks to make medical marijuana legal, countered also Bloomberg’s freewheeling comments by focusing on those who might be helped by the measure.

“We’re talking about people with terminal illnesses, seizure disorders. We’re not talking about recreational use,” Savino said.

Senator Diane Savino. Source: Thomas Good via Wikimedia Commons

State Senator Diane Savino, who recently put forward a bill to legalize medical marijuana, is placing heavy pressure on the reluctant Governor Andrew Cuomo to support the bill, according to a report by Capital New York.

Cuomo expressed concerns over the bill during an interview on “The Capital Pressroom” with Susan Arbetter. Despite polls that show a majority of voters in favor of the proposed legislation, Cuomo again expressed fears that such a law would be abused and might spur further recreational use of the drug, though he admitted that his views on the issue were “evolving.”

In an interview, Savino refused to wait for Cuomo’s long brewing evolution on the matter. The state senator urged the governor to reconsider his stance in light of the overwhelming support the public has for the bill both in state and nationally.

“Medical marijuana polls off the charts … in every demographic, every age group,” Capital New York reported Savino saying. “If you look at it purely from the political perspective, we will be close to 20 or 22 states that have adopted a medical marijuana statue [by 2016.]“

Savino also argued that safeguards to regulate and protect against abuse of the drug are heavily coded into the proposed law.

According to Savino, Cuomo is “concerned that we’re going to have a scenario like we have in California. That’s a reason to give him a lot of concern.”

Savino said that under California’s medical marijuana program is “everybody can be certified as a patient,” which Cuomo wouldn’t want to be the case in New York.

The state senator is hoping to meet with governor to address all his concerns and is open to making changes that meet his approval. In New Jersey, for example, access to medical marijuana is extremely regulated and restricted, with two-thirds of patients facing long waits to receive their medicine. Savino isn’t looking into making medical marijuana’s potential availability in New York as stringent.

“You don’t want to make it so difficult that people can’t get access to it.”

Source: Dank Depot via Flickr

Support for the legalization of marijuana is at an all-time high (no pun intended). According to a report in the Huffington Post, for the first time ever a majority of Americans, 52 percent, support the legalization of marijuana. A whopping 72 percent believe that the cost of federal enforcement is simply not worth it.

Led by State Senator Diane Savino, medical marijuana, which is legal in 18 states, is coming to a vote in the New York State Senate, and Savino believes it could pass despite the reservations of Senate Republicans and Governor Andrew Cuomo, according to a report in the New York Daily News.

“Everyone knows this bill will likely pass the New York State Assembly fairly easily,” the Daily News reported Savino saying at a press conference. “The Senate has always been the stumbling block.”

Governor Cuomo is not yet ready to lend his full support to the measure, saying that he doesn’t support the bill “at this time.” He has lent support to decriminalize the possession of marijuana and if polls continue to trend towards the liberalization of marijuana laws there is likely to be greater traction on the issue in the near future.

“Bullet Points” is our format for Community Board 15 meeting coverage, providing takeaways we think are important. Information in Bullet Points is meant only to be a quick summary, and some issues may be more deeply explored in future articles.

Neighbors Demand Board Rescind Support For Drug Counseling Center: Residents of East 17th Street near Kings Highway rallied at last night’s Community Board 15 meeting, demanding the Board rescind a letter of support for a proposed drug treatment facility at 1670 East 17th Street.

Led by Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association President Ed Jaworski, a group of residents took to the podium, claiming that the Board failed to inform the community that the issue would be discussed and voted on in December.

“The City Charter and the Community Board bylaws say that the Community Board should serve the community, should communicate within the community, should act as a liaison agency, should review services, should develop plans for the community. None of this was done regarding the drug center being located on East 17th Street,” Jaworski said. “What took place at the November meeting was a shortcut. It was cutting the community’s input.”

The center, One World Counseling, received a letter of support from Community Board 15 in November with a 31-4 vote. Dmitri Oster, a rep for One World, told the Board then that they intended to target immigrants in the Sheepshead Bay area who have turned to drugs to cope with cultural integration. They would offer only counseling and would not distribute medication.

Keep reading about this story, and summaries of other actions from last night’s Community Board 15 meeting.

Community Board 15 voted in favor of permitting one drug rehabilitation center in the neighborhood, but voted down another, saying that the owners’ attitudes made all the difference.

At the November 27 meeting, the Board gave the nod to One World Counseling, a newly-formed entity proposing to develop a drug and alcohol abuse treatment center at 1670 East 17th Street, just off Kings Highway. The Board’s 31-4 vote came just minutes after nixing plans of an existing center, First Steps to Recovery at 2990 Brighton 12th Street, to move to 2634 East 21st Street, with a no vote of 34-1.

During the hearing for First Steps, representatives for the outpatient addiction treatment clinic explained that they served “elderly” Eastern European patients who have turned to drugs or alcohol to cope with the struggles of integration. The clinic dispenses medications and has been operating in Brighton Beach since 2002. They were seeking to move to the 2634 East 21st Street location because their current space is too small.

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Prescription drug abuse is on the rise, and, for the youth, is often their gateway to harder drugs.

After marijuana, prescription drugs and over the counter medication are the most commonly abused drugs among youth, according the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and approximately one in nine people aged 12 to 25 abused prescription drugs in the past year.

It’s been rearing its ugly head locally, too. Our former head of the 61st Precinct, Georgios Mastrokostas, warned that prescription drug abuse has been on the rise in the area since 2009, and that addiction has not only led to harder drugs, but also has fueled the crime spikes in thefts, burglaries, car break-ins and other property-related crimes. Those claims have already been repeated by his successor, Captain John Chell.

And it’s not just the top brass saying it. When we were on scene at yesterday’s drug bust, one of the under-covers was telling us that most of the suspects they arrest for drugs began their addictions with prescription medications they found in their parents’ medical cabinets.

Don’t give your kids the opportunity to make a bad choice. Get rid of your unused and expired medications, with the help of the NYPD.

The NYPD Community Affairs Bureau has announced that local precincts will be participating this Saturday, September 29, in the 5th Annual National Prescription Pill Take Back Day.

You can drop off unused medication at various locations and 22 police precincts throughout the city, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m..

The 61st Precinct at 2575 Coney Island Avenue is a drop-off site, and other can be found here.

For Sabbath observers, a drug take-back event is scheduled for the 66th Precinct at 5822 16th Avenue today, September 28, 2012, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Thank you to State Senator Marty Golden for tipping us off about the event.

Deputy Inspector Georgios Mastrokostas of the 61st Precinct came before Community Board 15 last week to account for the nearly 50 percent jump in major crime in the community.

This year has so far seen a 47.7 uptick in the seven major CompStat crime categories. Leading the way is property crimes, including a 94.1 percent jump in robberies from last year, as well as a 77.5 percent increase in grand larceny, a 28.3 percent increase in burglaries, and a 25 percent increase in grand larceny auto.

Though felonious assaults and murders are down, and rape has only gone from five to six from last year, the Board expressed concern about the increases at its April meeting, and requested Mastrokostas’ presence to explain the rise in crime.

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Source: Hupu2 via Wikimedia Commons

Senator Marty Golden urged caution for Governor Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers as attempts to reduce punishment for carrying small quantities of marijuana move forward.

“What is it 25 grams? It’s a lot of pot. I think I’d have some issues with it. I think we’d like to still see the bill before comment on it, but I’m against decriminalization. It’s a gateway drug,” said Golden to LoHud.com.

Golden’s position on possession is unyielding. In 2009, he opposed a law that would amend the controversial Rockefeller drug laws to no longer require a minimum jail sentences on every drug charge.

Golden’s response contrasts Cuomo’s recently revealed plan to change the law in classifying possession of small amounts of marijuana in public view as misdemeanors.

“This is about creating fairness and consistency in our laws. The problem is the law, and the solution is to change the law,” he told Business Week.

The push to lower marijuana charges comes on the heels of New York’s highly criticized stop-and-frisk campaign. Cuomo hopes the measure passes this session, which ends June 21.

Golden mentions recent deaths in his district as a reason for prudence. He added that five people died from prescription drug overdoses.

“I think you have to be very careful when you decriminalize anything, but I’d still like to see the bill,” said Golden.

Last week we brought you the first two NYPD Community Affairs Unit’s safety tips videos. This is the third of four, in which the officers talk about drug use among children and teens, and how parents and educators can spot bad habits.

The videos come from a recent event in which NYPD officers from the 60th Precinct, 61st Precinct, 62nd Precinct, 70th Precinct and Brooklyn South’s Community Affairs Unit converged on Tzar Restaurant (2007 Emmons Avenue), for the first ever Community Awareness Meeting organized by the Be Proud Foundation and the Brighton Beach Business Improvement District.

Click here to see their video on bullying.
Click here to see their video on preventing cell phone theft. 

One of the brands of synthetic marijuana (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The following is a press release from Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz:

With calls to New York State’s poison control hotlines involving synthetic marijuana drastically increasing in the first quarter of 2012, Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (D-Brooklyn), Chairman of the Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, issued a warning that “although the State Health Department has banned sales and distribution of synthetic marijuana in New York State and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has used its emergency powers to make this dangerous substance illegal for sale nationally, it may still be available in convenience stores and online.”

Synthetic cannabinoids (marijuana) consist of plant material coated with chemicals that mimic THC which is the active ingredient of marijuana. While users can achieve highs of between 30 minutes and two hours, the side effects include death and acute renal failure, as well as significant negative effects to the cardiovascular and central nervous systems.

“Our young people must understand that synthetic marijuana is a dangerous substance with reports documenting serious adverse reactions to this substance experienced by people in our community. I am very concerned that a recent study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse revealed that 11.4 percent of high school students have used synthetic marijuana within the last year,” Cymbrowitz stated. “I want to counter the false assumption that synthetic marijuana is both legal and safe. It is neither.”

Synthetic marijuana was sold under such brand names as K2, Spice, Blonde, Summit, Standard, Blaze, Red Dawn X and Citron. It is most commonly administered by smoking.

“Anyone who knows of retailers continuing to sell synthetic marijuana should contact the Drug Enforcement Administration at 1-877-883-5789. We need to get this dangerous substance off the market,” Cymbrowitz said.