--- description: The drug will be available to seriously ill patients, only in non-smokable form title: New York Becomes 23rd State To Legalize Medical Marijuana image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt352a7159d0b9979b/69869ae3169ab0cc7727a41b/marijuana1280x720.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # New York Becomes Twenty-Third State to Legalize Medical Marijuana by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 8, 2014 6:00 PM CUT  by [TIME Video](/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 8, 2014 6:00 PM CUT New York became the twenty-third state to legalize medical marijuana [this week](http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/07/health/new-york-medical-marijuana/ "undefined"), but its law is one of the most restrictive in the country. Under the new legislation, doctors can prescribe marijuana in non-smokable forms – including pills, oils and vapors – for seriously ill or injured patients. Among the other states that allow medical marijuana are Connecticut, Vermont and New Jersey. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2966900/new-york-medical-marijuana/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2966900/new-york-medical-marijuana/"},"headline":"New York Becomes Twenty-Third State to Legalize Medical Marijuana","datePublished":"2014-07-08T18:00:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:01:36.311Z","description":"But patients won't be allowed to smoke the drug","url":"https://time.com/2966900/new-york-medical-marijuana/","keywords":["Marijuana","politics","Drugs","New York"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt352a7159d0b9979b/69869ae3169ab0cc7727a41b/marijuana1280x720.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt352a7159d0b9979b/69869ae3169ab0cc7727a41b/marijuana1280x720.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Marijuana1280X720","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2966900/new-york-medical-marijuana/","name":"New York Becomes Twenty-Third State to Legalize Medical Marijuana"}}]}] ```