New York State is poised to allow 20 hospitals to distribute medical marijuana , Gov . Andrew Cuomo formally announced Wednesday . `` Research suggests that medical marijuana can help manage pain and treatment of cancer and other serious illnesses , '' Cuomo said in the annual State of State speech in Albany . `` We will establish a program allowing up to 20 hospitals to prescribe medical marijuana , and we will monitor the program to evaluate the effectiveness and the feasibility of a medical marijuana system , '' Cuomo added , without elaborating . Medical marijuana advocates briefed on Cuomo 's plan earlier this week said an executive action would allow certain hospitals to dispense the drug to certain patients . The governor 's office did not return calls seeking comment . State Assemblyman Richard Gottfried , a Democrat from Manhattan and a leading proponent of comprehensive legislation for medical marijuana , said he learned about the executive action in a conversation Saturday with members of the governor 's staff . He said the move paved the way for a `` limited and cumbersome program '' but called it a step forward . Other New Yorkers welcomed the news . Missy Miller of Long Island said she considered moving to California to gain access to a special strain of marijuana called charlotte 's web oil , a derivative that may help cease her son Oliver 's seizures . Oliver , 14 , had a stroke in utero that resulted in a brain stem injury . Among several other life-threatening consequences are seizures , sometimes more than a dozen a day . `` It 's scary every day , '' she said . `` Every seizure that he has , I get anxious , every seizure I worry , is this going to be the seizure that does n't stop . '' Miller has hoped for comprehensive legislation that would specify the sources and strains of the drug available . Access is `` a huge question mark , '' she said , adding that while other states have legalized marijuana , `` they do not have the strain that will help these children . '' Miller said that while Cuomo 's announcement is `` a huge step and a step in the right direction and we 're applauding it , it is n't enough . It needs to include access and coverage to the people that need it , all the people that need it . '' An opponent of the governor 's action said it was driven by politics . `` I think serious questions can be raised about using a political vehicle to achieve the use of a prescribable medication in America , '' said William Foster , president of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency . Medical marijuana is not unprecedented in the United States . Twenty states and the District of Columbia now allow it in some form -- among them Colorado , where , as of January 1 , it 's legal to sell marijuana to those 21 or older -- according to information compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures . ( In addition , Maryland has a limited program for research . ) The momentum has picked up recently , with most of these efforts taking effect over the past decade . Among the states that allow medical marijuana are Connecticut , Vermont and New Jersey , each of which border New York . And yet the Empire State has not joined them . Versions of the Compassionate Care Act pushed by Gottfried have passed the state Assembly , only to stall in the Senate . Cuomo is acting without the legislature 's OK , though what he 's doing is legal , according to Gottfried . He explained that the governor is acting on powers granted through a law passed in 1980 in setting the stage for a highly regulated system that 's less liberal than many other medical marijuana setups nationwide . Here 's how it would work , according to Gottfried : Under Cuomo 's directive , the state health department would take charge by setting up the guidelines and picking the hospitals that would participate . These hospitals would then have panels of people who decide , on a person-by-person basis , which patients qualify for medical marijuana . It has yet to be determined where the medical marijuana -- or the elements of it that might be dispensed -- will come from , including who might produce it . Gottfried estimated that tens of thousands of people could get medical marijuana by virtue of this policy change , though he insisted it is no substitute for a more complete , far-reaching program . `` ( Cuomo ) can take ( this step ) without the need for further legislation , '' the Manhattan legislator said . `` But to have a truly comprehensive and well-working system will take legislation . ''
New York 's governor will plan to distribute medical marijuana . State hospitals will initially dispense the drug . They will evaluate ` ` effectiveness and feasibility , '' governor says .