On Friday, Connecticut Governor Malloy signed law legislation that allows people with special needs the ability to smoke marijuana legally. Connecticut joins 16 other states and the District of Columbia in authorizing use of the drug for medical purposes.

The regulated treatment will come from the prescription of a doctor who can ceritfy the patient is suffering from a debilitating disease and would benefit from regulated treatment.

With the signing, Malloy has implemented several initiatives to prevent abuse:

“For years, we’ve heard from so many patients with chronic diseases who undergo treatments like chemotherapy or radiation and are denied the palliative benefits that medical marijuana would provide,” Malloy said in a statement.  “With careful regulation and safeguards, this law will allow a doctor and a patient to decide what is in that patient’s best interest.”

“We don’t want Connecticut to follow the path pursued by some other states, which essentially would legalize marijuana for anyone willing to find the right doctor and get the right prescription,” Malloy said. “In my opinion, such efforts run counter to federal law. Under this law, however, the Department of Consumer Protection will be able to carefully regulate and monitor the medicinal use of this drug in order to avoid the problems encountered in some other states.”

Conditions that would qualify include the following:

• Cancer
• AIDS or HIV
• Parkinson’s disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord
• Epilepsy
• Cachexia
• Wasting syndrome
• Chrohn’s disease
• Posttraumatic stress disorder

For complete and up-to-date coverage, be sure to follow CBS Connecticut.