A new legislation introduced this month in both Senate and Assembly wants to expand medical cannabis in New York to treat opioid addiction.

Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell introduced the measure to use to expand medical cannabis for many of the symptoms opioid addicts face like nausea and anxiety. He also claims cannabis is less harmful than the prescription treatments used for opioid patients like methadone or Vivitrol. Currently the medical cannabis laws in New York only allow medical cannabis for a few conditions like cancer, HIV, AIDS, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, spinal injuries among a few others.

“We have an opioid crisis and people are dying and this may be a path to keep people from dying and keep them from relapsing,” O’Donnell told the NY Daily News.

The Assembly Health Committee has already approved the measure 23-1.

Melissa Moore, deputy state director of the Drug Policy Alliance told the NY Daily News the growing amount of research showing a decrease in opioid related deaths and addiction relapses in cannabis-friendly states is enough to win her support for the measure.

“Far from being a gateway drug, marijuana is potentially an exit drug for people using opioids,” Moore said.

Staten Island Sen. Diane Savino and sponsor of 2014 medical cannabis bill in New York, like Moore sees cannabis as a necessary treatment and hopes the bill is passed as soon as possible to help end the opioid crisis in the United States.

“If we can find a way to help people have productive lives after they’ve been exposed to the horror of addiction, why would we stand in the way?” Savino told the NY Daily News.