NY approved medical marijuana law 33 years ago

Holy smoke!

Here’s a little-known fact to give sick folks high hopes — New York already has a law on the books to dispense marijuana to cancer patients.

The medical-marijuana law was approved by the state Legislature and then-Gov. Hugh Carey in 1980 following an emotional appeal from brain-cancer patient Antonio Olivieri, a former state Assembly member and City Council member from Manhattan who lobbied legislators from his hospital bed.