STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Medical marijuana legislation will pass in the state Senate, Sen. Diane Savino said Thursday after a City Hall rally supporting the bill alongside fellow lawmakers, doctors, and patients who would like legal access to the drug.

"Do I think the bill will pass unanimously?" Ms. Savino (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn), the bill's sponsor in the Senate, asked. "No. It doesn't have to."

But Ms. Savino said changes made to the legislation along the way -- to prevent drugs from being diverted to the black market, to make sure that every plant is accounted for, that doctors can't game the system and that it's only dispensed under a doctor's care -- have earned it support from many.

New York would be the 19th state to pass a medical marijuana law -- and the only reason the drug isn't already available to those with terminal, life-threatening, and debilitating illnesses is due to "political correctness run amok," Assembly sponsor Richard N. Gottfried (D-Manhattan) said.

"New York is a great leader in many ways -- sometimes we lead, sometimes we follow," Ms. Savino said at the rally.

On this issue, New York finds itself in the middle of the pack, she said. But the legislation would give New Yorkers the choice to seek out a drug she said has been proven to ease their suffering.

"In New York State the only choices they have now are either pain or highly addictive dangerous drugs," she said.

After the rally, Ms. Savino said marijuana is much safer than drugs many terminally ill patients do have access to -- narcotic painkillers like OxyContin or Vicodin.

"No one has ever overdosed on marijuana. There's no absolute evidence to suggest that marijuana is addictive. You cannot say that about any of the other narcotics," she said.

Dr. Frank Spinelli, an internist at Chelsea Village Medical Center who grew up on Staten Island, spoke about a 70-year-old cancer patient named Joan who was confined to a bed for three months "in excruciating pain," experiencing side effects from both chemotherapy and the opioid painkillers she was prescribed. Finally, family took her to Arizona, where she was able to use medical marijuana.

"Joan is not an addict. She is not drug-seeking. She does not want to get high," Dr. Spinelli said -- but by using the drug, she was able to eat again, and spend quality time with her family until she died.

Among those supporting the legislation are the New York State Nurses Association.

"What we find is that our patients are suffering. There is no need for patients to suffer," said Jill Furillo, a registered nurse and the association's executive director. "Medical marijuana brings relief to patients who are suffering. That's what nursing is all about."

Beverly McClain, a stage four breast cancer patient, said she only has a few years left to live -- and she would appreciate it if the bill was passed before she died.

"Medical marijuana, for me, is synonymous with just taking a break from all the hell people like me have to go through," she said.

Jamin Sewell, an attorney who has in the past worked for the City Council, and has multiple sclerosis, said medicines he's tried have not been able to ease his neuropathic pain. And he doesn't want to turn to an illegal drug and endanger his career, he said.

"I also want be able to go to a doctor who can tell me the best way to use medical marijuana," he said.

And Wanda Hernandez, who was diagnosed with HIV 16 years ago, said the drug is the only thing that eases her symptoms.

"I don't understand why any of us should be treated as criminals for seeking out a medicine," she said.

Ms. Savino said one bright spot about passing the bill after other states is the ability to learn what worked -- and what didn't. There would be no easily accessible dispensaries as are the case in California -- something that can lead to the federal government raiding grow houses.

"That doesn't help patients," she said.