Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 2010
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Page: A2
Copyright: 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Suzanne Sataline
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

NEW JERSEY SET TO ALLOW MEDICAL POT

New Jersey's state legislature Monday approved a bill that would 
allow chronically and terminally ill patients to smoke marijuana with 
their doctors' approval.

Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, has told lawmakers he would sign it 
before leaving office next week. A spokesman for the governor 
couldn't be reached to comment.

New Jersey would join more than 10 states that give a medical 
exception to marijuana use despite federal laws prohibiting the 
drug's use. Those states include California, Colorado, Maine and 
Michigan. Attorney General Eric Holder said earlier this year that 
the federal government wouldn't prosecute people complying with state 
medical marijuana laws.

New Jersey's bill allows patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, 
multiple sclerosis and other medical conditions to buy up to two 
ounces of marijuana each month at state-sanctioned dispensaries. The 
state health department would issue dispensary cards to patients with 
"debilitating medical conditions," allowing them to use the drug with 
doctors' approvals. Those conditions would include chronic pain, 
wasting syndrome and terminal illness if a physician determines a 
patient has12 months or less to live.

Mr. Corzine's successor, Chris Christie, a Republican and former 
federal prosecutor, also has said he supported the bill's intent, but 
he has expressed concern about loopholes that he said could result in 
the drug being abused. A spokeswoman for Mr. Christie couldn't be 
reached to comment.

Such concerns had prompted state lawmakers to revise an earlier 
version of the bill. Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a co-sponsor of the 
bill, said it would be the nation's strictest medical-marijuana law, 
the Associated Press reported.

In California, the state has largely left interpretation of its 
medical-marijuana law to counties, and pot shops have proliferated in 
some places. Los Angeles recently launched a crackdown after the 
number of dispensaries reached an estimated 1,000, and officials and 
residents complained that many were illegal cash businesses that had 
little to do with medical care.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake