New York Senators, Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, sent a letter urging the federal government to approve the state’s first-of-its-kind request to temporarily transport medical marijuana across state lines.  The letter, which was sent to Attorney General Eric Holder, detailed support for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration’s request to disperse out-of-state cannabidiol to children suffering from severe epilepsy.

State Acting Health Commissioner Howard Zucker has written to Holder’s office twice in the past six weeks, asking for permission to bring the drug across state lines. The state in June passed a law authorizing medical marijuana, but its system won’t be up and running until January 2016.

“As members of Congress whose constituents suffer from these illnesses, we feel that the federal government ought to do what it can to help these children,” the senators wrote. “Therefore, we are requesting that you provide the state of New York with a waiver that would prohibit federal prosecution for the importation of cannabidol in the rare cases where medical marijuana is imported between two states with legalized medical marijuana, and the amount is small, finite and prescription-based.”

The waiver request is believed to be a long shot.

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