Today, about 20 medical marijuana patients will meet with staff at the Greenleaf Compassion Center, New Jersey's first medical marijuana facility to open its doors since the state passed a law legalizing prescription pot in 2010.

While medical weed is now legal in the Garden State -- as we've chronicled -- "progressive" New York is still weighing the "risks" of allowing sick people to treat their ailments with weed, rather than other prescription medications that, in most cases, are far more dangerous and addictive than marijuana.

In October, New Jersey Health Commissioner Mary E. O'Dowd announced that Greenleaf was the first state-sanctioned distributor of medical marijuana, following several hurdles that have delayed the implementation of the state's medical marijuana law.

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A Colorado-based marijuana company has enlisted the help of one of Albany's most influential lobbyists to make medical marijuana a reality in Andrew Cuomo's "progressive" New York. But the chances of the Empire State getting prescription pot any time soon aren't great.

Gaia Plant Based Medicine has recruited former Sheldon Silver aide Pat Lynch's lobbying firm to urge lawmakers -- and Cuomo -- to legalize medical marijuana in New York.

However, despite overwhelming legislative and public approval (anywhere from 60-percent to 80-percent of New Yorkers support medical marijuana, depending on which poll you look at), Cuomo has said he won't approve a bill legalizing medical marijuana.

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New York has had the whole medical marijuana conversation for a while (end result: fail), and legalizing marijuana, if only for medical purposes, has its twists and turns here. Even with the rollback of the Draconian Rockefeller drug laws by Cuomo, being the world capital of weed arrests sure doesn't help. But it seems as if change might be in the (smoky) air.More »

The New Jersey Department of Health yesterday issued the first permit to a medical marijuana dispensary, which grants it permission to start distributing marijuana to state residents who qualify for prescription pot.

New York, however -- which Governor Andrew Cuomo has declared the leader of "progressive" America -- still won't approve medical marijuana; Cuomo said earlier this year that he's still "studying" the pros and cons of allowing sick people to treat their ailments with weed, rather than other prescription medications that, in most cases, are far more dangerous and addictive than marijuana.

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A bill that would legalize medical marijuana in New York passed in the Assembly yesterday, but don't go making up any ailments that qualify you for a weed prescription just yet; Governor Buzz Kill ain't gonna sign it -- even if it does find its way to his desk.

The bill would legalize prescription weed for people suffering from "serious debilitating or life-threatening conditions." If the bill becomes law, New York -- the state Governor Andrew Cuomo says should be the "progressive capitol of the nation" -- would become the 17th state to legalize marijuana for medical use.

"If the patient and physician agree that the patient's serious debilitating or life-threatening condition should be treated with medical marijuana, the government should not stand in the way," Assemblyman Richard Gottfried -- the chairman of the Assembly's Health Committee, who introduced the bill (for the 17th time) -- says. "It is cruel to deny treatment to patients who are suffering or to turn them into criminals."

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Andrew Cuomo is sticking up for recreational marijuana users -- while throwing those who use if for medicinal purposes under the bus.

Yesterday, law enforcement officials and state lawmakers got in line to pucker up to the rump of Governor Andrew Cuomo because of his plan to decriminalize "public view" marijuana possession. Cuomo's move is being heralded as a civil rights victory for young Hispanic and African-American New Yorkers who are disproportionately hit with criminal charges for weed possession.

"What Governor Cuomo is proposing, is a logical and, unfortunately, necessary clarification of the law as it exists today," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver swooned yesterday.

We don't mean to kill the buzz of Cuomo's proposed "public view" weed plan, but it doesn't make him a civil rights hero, it makes him bipolar -- the governor still refuses to support the legalization of medical marijuana, noting that there are "tremendous risks" involved with allowing people who already are smoking pot to treat various ailments to do so legally (he's yet to identify a single "risk." More on that below).

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A bill that would legalize medical marijuana in New York has cleared the Health Committee and is headed to the Codes Committee where it will likely be approved and sent to the full Assembly for a vote.

Don't get too excited, though, stoners -- even if the bill does pass in the Assembly (which it likely will, as it already has twice in the past), you're probably not going to get your hands on medical weed (unless you really, really (really) need it).

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Things just got a little greener in the Garden State.

The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services issued a permit to Montclair-based Greenleaf Compassion Center yesterday to begin growing medical marijuana. It's the first "compassion club" in New Jersey to receive a permit since the state's medical marijuana law was signed in 2010.

Here in New York, however -- the "progressive capitol of the nation," according to Governor Andrew Cuomo -- a medical marijuana bill that will be introduced into the Legislature in the next few weeks probably won't see the light of day; Cuomo says he won't consider a medical marijuana bill this year because (he claims) there are "tremendous risks" associated with letting people use marijuana to treat various medical conditions.

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