Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

NEW YORK STATE FISH & WILDLIFE SMARTPHONE APPLICATION

Governor Cuomo announced the launch of a free mobile application that provides up-to-date information on fishing, hunting, wildlife watching and other outdoor adventure opportunities in New York State. The application is called the “New York Fish & Wildlife” app, and it provides advanced GPS mapping features as well as many other features to maximize any outdoor adventure, including detailed species information, news, advisories and weather alerts, social networking and photo sharing, and cache-able map tiles for offline use.

Using the app’s advanced GPS features, users will be able to identify and locate New York’s many world-class fishing, hunting and wildlife watching sites. Official Geographic Information System (GIS) data allows users to access in real-time accurate trail data, user location, sites nearby and amenity locations, including boat ramps, parking, restrooms and more. For hunters and anglers, GIS data will give geographic spatial information, making it easy to identify county borders and units that apply to regulations, permits and licenses for species.

Download the New York Fishing, Hunting & Wildlife App on the Apple App Store or Google Play store.

ASSEMBLY APPROVES COMPASSIONATE CARE ACT, MOVES TOWARD LEGALIZING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Health Committee Chair Richard N. Gottfried and Codes Committee Chair Joseph Lentol announced the approval of the Compassionate Care Act, a measure that would allow the use of marijuana to treat serious, life-threatening illnesses under the supervision of a licensed health care practitioner (A.6357-B, Gottfried).

The Act would allow medical use of marijuana under a doctor’s supervision for patients with cancer or who are suffering from other severely debilitating or life-threatening conditions. The bill would set up one of the strictest medical marijuana programs in the nation. The tightly regulated measure includes provisions that would:

•allow a licensed practitioner to certify that a patient has a serious condition (under statutory criteria) for which they are likely to receive palliative or therapeutic benefit from treatment with the medical use of marijuana;

•permit a certified patient or designated caregiver who is registered with the state Department of Health (DOH) to possess up to two and one half ounces of marijuana;

•authorize the DOH to license and regulate “registered organizations” to dispense medical marijuana for certified patients; and

•require DOH to issue registry identification cards to certified patients and designated caregivers. These cards would expire after 90 days to conform with the maximum length of an initial prescription for all other controlled substances.

The measure would require registration of organizations that would sell, deliver or distribute medical marijuana to certified patients or designated caregivers.