OLEAN, N.Y. — New York lawmakers passed a highly regulated bill permitting marijuana use for severely ill patients.

Both State Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean, and Assemblyman Joe Giglio, R-Gowanda, voted yes to making New York the 23rd state to approve some form of medicinal pot.

Although it’s expected to take 18 months to reach folks contending with 10 defined serious illnesses like cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis, the legislators and several local health care professionals hailed the law as a means to end suffering.

“I think this is all about compassion,” Young said. “Everyone knows people who have suffered from cancer and other very painful diseases. This is a way to alleviate the suffering.”

But the law would only allow those patients to use “non-smokeable” versions of marijuana, meaning its key high-creating component, THC, would have to be ingested or vaporized.

That was a strategic move, Young said. Lawmakers are aiming to deter its recreational use by keeping the weed form out of circulation, where it may fall in the wrong hands.

“People who use it recreationally are smoking it, for the most part,” the senator added. “There are so many efforts from the (state) Department of Health to get people not to smoke that it would send the wrong message. I can’t think of any other medication that you can smoke. We wanted it to be available in a form that is strictly medicinal.”

Numerous versions of the medical marijuana legalization bill have come across state legislators’ desks in recent years. Giglio voted against each of them.

This one was more palatable, he said.

“It’s not smokeable, it’s in the charge of the commissioner of health and it can be shut down quickly,” Giglio explained. “The amount you’re allowed to have is regulated. This one, we tightened it up a great deal and made it for just the treatment of different severe diseases.”

As of Tuesday, Washington state residents could legally purchase the drug for fun. People in Colorado have been doing so since January.

The two states have embarked on an experiment of sorts to see if all-out legalization will work long-term.

Asked if he’ll monitor how Washington and Colorado fare to make a judgment for recreational use here, Giglio said: “I very rarely speculate, but on this one I would say probably not. We have a long way to go and those states have a long way to go to prove it’s not a problem. It can be used as a gateway drug, and we have enough problems with opiates and other drugs like that.”

Young was more pointed.

“No,” she said.

She is a member of the Joint Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction. From that seat, Young said drug abuse — especially by youth — is “very concerning.”

“It would be mayhem to go to a system such as Colorado’s and Washington state’s,” she added. “I’m very against legalization of recreational marijuana.”

But having met with cancer patients and children suffering from chronic epileptic seizures, she found the medicinal route necessary.

“It’s heartbreaking to meet with the parents and children and fully understand what they go through every single day,” Young said.

Dr. John Weinhold, an oncologist at Olean Medical Group, daily treats some of those very cancer patients. On the way to a cure, they often need strong medications to remedy pain and nausea, he said.

With some further research, Weinhold said he would likely be prepared to prescribe medical pot to his patients. He cited a drug that is already frequently given by oncologists called Marinol, which contains a synthetic form of THC.

“That has been quite helpful in some patients with nausea and vomiting. Like many medications, it doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s been a helpful drug,” Weinhold explained. “I don’t think I would necessarily be averse to prescribing this as soon as I find out a little bit more about how this will be provided.”

He said he’d be cautious, though.

“I think, like any powerful drug with psychotropic properties, I would be a little restrictive with an initial prescription,” Weinhold said.

The safer “non-smokeable” version is preferable, he noted.

The doctor’s perspective on recreational legalization?

“I think our efforts to criminalize marijuana have been a failure,” he said. “We’ve wasted a lot of resources over the years … filling our prisons with people who really don’t necessarily belong there. At some point, if recreational marijuana were to be decriminalized — I don’t believe that smoking things into your lungs is generally a good idea in any circumstance — but I wouldn’t be against it.”