This morning, a compelling TV ad began airing in New York urging the state Senate to pass a medical marijuana bill before it adjourns on June 23. The ad features one of the thousands of New York patients who are counting on the Senate to act.

Burton Aldrich, a Kingston, N.Y. quadriplegic who finds that marijuana best relieves his excruciating pain and spasms, explains, “I don’t know if I would be around if it wasn’t for marijuana. It shouldn’t be a crime to treat pain and suffering.” You can watch the ad at mpp.org/NYad and contact your senator at www.NYPatients.org .

Aldrich’s doctors support his medical use of marijuana. And if he lived in 12 other states, he would be allowed to use his medicine under state law. Canada also allows medical marijuana. But under New York law, it is a crime for the seriously ill to use marijuana pursuant to doctors’ recommendations.

Assembly Member Richard Gottfried (D, WF–Manhattan) has been trying to change that for more than 10 years. Last June, the Assembly passed Gottfried’s medical marijuana bill for the first time in a 95-52 vote. But so far the state Senate has failed to call a vote on medical marijuana legislation.

The Assembly bill, now A.4867B, is narrowly crafted. It would allow patients to use marijuana only if they have life-threatening or debilitating conditions and if their doctors believe it would be the most effective treatment. As is the case in Rhode Island, patients would register with the state to be allowed to grow up to 12 plants and to possess up to 2.5 ounces of their medicine. State-regulated distribution would replace home cultivation when the federal government grants the state permission to do so.

Aldrich joined four other patients and Assembly Member Gottfried in a press conference today to call on the state Senate to act. Among the patients was Barbara Jackson, a 72-year-old cancer survivor from the Bronx, who was arrested for using marijuana to treat dangerous appetite loss. Barbara asks, “Should my great-grandchildren have to visit me in jail, because I use a medicine that allows me to survive?”

Seventy-six percent of New Yorkers and the state medical community would answer no. But it’s the state Senate that will make that decision. To ask your state senator to support enacting a medical marijuana bill this year, visit www.NYPatients.org .