Pubdate: Tue, 9 Jun 2009
Source: Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ)
Copyright: 2009 Newark Morning Ledger Co
Contact:  http://www.nj.com/starledger/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/424
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

PROPER PRECAUTIONS ON MARIJUANA BILL

As New Jersey lawmakers consider taking the bold step of legalizing 
marijuana for medical use, they're showing an abundance of caution 
about the details.

An Assembly committee made major changes to the bill approved by the 
state Senate earlier this year. It would make New Jersey the 14th 
state to allow marijuana to be grown and prescribed for medicinal 
purposes, but under the strictest conditions of any of those states. 
To use marijuana legally, a patient would have to have one of five 
specific diseases; get a recommendation from his or her doctor and 
permission from the state health department; obtain the drug from an 
approved grower and only in amounts of an ounce or less per month.

Those stringent provisions should eliminate concerns that this bill 
amounts to back-door legalization of a recreational drug. Still, 
Assembly members facing re-election in November may be reluctant to 
give opponents any chance to label them as "soft on drugs."

We hope they give voters more credit for recognizing that using 
marijuana to relieve the side effects of chemotherapy or the symptoms 
of other serious diseases should not be a crime. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake