After years of lobbying in the Empire state by activists including patients, physicians and medical marijuana advocate groups, New York may soon join fourteen other American states with medical cannabis laws. A senate budget resolution that passed on Monday includes a provision that supports considering the legal sale of medical marijuana in the state budget. Mike Meno of the Marijuana Policy Project believes there is a chance that this language will be included in the final state budget. Senate Democrats estimate that licensing fees from dispensaries could generate up to $15 million that could go toward closing the state’s $9 billion budget gap.

Meanwhile medical marijuana bill, Senate Bill S4041B, cleared the Senate Codes Committee today in a bipartisan 11-5 vote. This was the first time the bill has passed the committee and it can now can go forward towards a full senate vote. It would allow a licensed practitioner (read: doctor) to certify that a patient has a serious condition that in the practitioner’s judgement can and should be treated with medical marijuana. A serious condition is defined as severely debilitating or life threatening. Those that qualify, along with their caregivers, would be allowed to possess up to two and a half ounces.

NBC universal has released a new poll that reports that half of New Yorkers support legalizing medical marijuana in their state. The report says that 41 percent are opposed to medical marijuana and 9 percent say they don’t have enough information to decide. Pollster Steven Greenberg broke down the poll numbers by commenting, “Democrats and independents, downstaters, young, white and Jewish voters support it. Republicans, upstaters, older voters, and African American, Catholic and Protestant voters oppose it.” The latino voters were split down the middle 49 percent for and 49 percent opposed to it. The major opposition includes 61 percent of those who consider themselves conservative, 59 percent of Republicans and 48 percent of those 55 and older. The poll has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.