years would be a fine-only misdemeanor. Marijuana possession by those under 18 would be subject to the jurisdiction of juvenile court, and they would typically receive substance abuse education. MPP led the multi-year lobbying effort for the law. New York In July 2014, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation making New York the 23rd medical marijuana state. The law's passage is the product of many years of work by legislative champions, patients, their loved ones, and advocacy organizations, including MPP, Compassionate Care NY, and the Drug Policy Alliance. The new law will protect certain seriously ill patients who use marijuana pursuant to their doctors’ advice from civil and criminal penalties. A number of modifications were made at the insistence of Gov. Cuomo. As a result, patients will not be allowed to smoke medical cannabis, the law will sunset after seven years, and there will be no more than five manufacturers — with a total of up to 20 locations — in the entire state. MPP continues work to improve the law. Ohio On June 8, 2016, Gov. John Kasich signed House Bill 523 into law, making Ohio the 25th state to adopt a workable medical marijuana law. The legislation, passed by the Ohio General Assembly the previous week, will allow seriously ill patients to use and purchase medical cannabis that will be cultivated and processed in-state. This legislation was a direct response to an initiative MPP funded and sought to qualify for the November 2016 ballot. Although the legislation isn't as strong as the constitutional amendment MPP promoted, it shares many of the same critical principles, most especially by ensuring seriously ill patients will no longer be treated like criminals and will have reasonable access to medicine. In conjunction with Ohioans for Medical Marijuana, MPP plans to continue advocacy efforts to ensure that the State of Ohio lives up to the promises contained in HB 523, while also working to better the program using the ballot initiative proposal as a roadmap for these improvements. Pennsylvania On April 17, 2016. Gov. Tom Wolf signed legislation making Pennsylvania the 24th medical marijuana state. Patients and their families led the effort for years, and MPP played a major supporting role beginning in mid-2015, bringing on a contract lobbyist and a staffer who devoted most of her time to Pennsylvania. MPP helped ensure the bill language was as strong as possible and worked on advocacy