Albany

A bill that would allow limited use of medical marijuana cleared an important hurdle on Tuesday when the Senate Health Committee narrowly voted to move the measure forward.

The bill must be approved by the Senate Finance Committee, and from there it would go to the Senate floor for a vote. It isn't clear if that will happen before the end of the legislative session.

The Assembly has already passed a medical marijuana bill.

"We've adopted the best practices from other states and rejected the worst," said Sen. Diane Savino, a member of the Independent Democratic Conference and the bill's sponsor, shortly before the committee vote.

Under the bill's latest incarnation, each marijuana plant would have its own bar code to control inventory and the state would allow 20 growers.

Savino said the program as envisioned would be more stringent than California's medical marijuana system in which there is a "proliferation of pot stores."

Those with specific medical conditions and who are over age 21 could smoke marijuana, although others might ingest an oil derived from the plant.

Savino also said the state would set up a committee of medical and law enforcement professionals to identify the diseases or medical conditions that would warrant marijuana use.

The committee vote, largely along party lines, passed 9-8.

GOP Health Committee Chairman Kemp Hannon voted no, saying he believes Gov. Andrew Cuomo is intent on enacting a different plan, based on a 1980s law that was passed but never put into effect.

That law would make designated hospitals responsible for running the program.

Brooklyn Republican Marty Golden, another "no" voter, said he wants to wait until the federal Food and Drug Administration greenlights medical marijuana, saying, "At some point there will be legalization ... I don't believe it should be now."

Hudson Valley Sen. Bill Larkin, a Republican, gave the only GOP yes vote, putting the measure over the top. He wasn't at the meeting but offered a proxy vote.

Medical marijuana supporters packed the room on Tuesday, with some carrying signs in support of their cause. They cheered when lawmakers voted to move the measure forward.

Some said that New York should join the 21 other states, as well as Washington, D.C., in allowing medical marijuana for medical conditions that are frequently treated with powerful drugs that have side effects.

"It's the only hope we have and to have politicians stand in the way is a crime as far as I'm concerned," said Melissa Hilt of East Greenbush.

Hilt's 7-year-old daughter, Haley, functions as a 9-month-old and suffers seven to 10 clusters of seizures per day. Haley takes a regimen of drugs but Hilts wants to use marijuana oil because it doesn't have side effects.

"She can't because she's in New York," Hilt said.

"It's not poison," said Rose Homuth, from the western New York community of Cuba, who has two developmentally disabled sons who suffer seizures.

Not everyone agrees with medical marijuana, at least in smokable form.

"It sends the wrong message," said Jason McGuire, executive director of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms. McGuire, a minister, said he has seen too many people in trouble with hard drugs who started with pot.

He favors an alternate bill offered by GOP Long Island Sen. Phil Boyle that would allow the use of marijuana that could be ingested or vaporized in an oil form instead of smoked.

Savino's measure would allow both. She said for some people smoking is the most efficient way of ingesting marijuana.

rkarlin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5758 • @RickKarlinTU