Pubdate: Fri, 21 Feb 2014
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright: 2014 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Jan Hefler

MEDICAL-MARIJUANA CHANGES PROPOSED

N.J. Lawmakers Heard Ideas, From Adding Sites and Qualifying Ailments 
to Cutting Fees.

Four years after New Jersey became the 14th state to adopt a 
medical-marijuana program, legislators took testimony from dispensary 
operators and patient advocates who are proposing changes to give the 
struggling program a jumpstart.

After the hour-long Assembly Regulatory Oversight Committee hearing 
ended Thursday, Chairman Reed Gusciora (D., Mercer) said the 
legislators would discuss the issues and "hopefully make improvements 
to the program" by introducing legislation and working with the state

Department of Health.

Among the recommendations aired:

The department should revoke the three-year-old licenses of three 
dispensaries that have not yet opened and allow other operators to apply.

Doctors should be able to write prescriptions without being required 
to register for the program.

Chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder should be added to 
the dozen qualifying conditions.

The patient registration fee should be reduced from $200 - the 
highest in the nation - to $25.

Michael Weisser, who represents an association of the three New 
Jersey dispensaries that are open and the three that are planned, 
said the dispensaries had more cannabis than customers.

The "stringent rules of the program" make it difficult for patients 
to find a doctor to approve them for marijuana, and then to pay the 
$200 registration fee and the cost of having a doctor recertify them 
for the drug every three months, he said.

Weisser, who is also the chief operating officer of the Garden State 
Dispensary in Woodbridge and who operates eight dispensaries in 
Colorado, said many New Jersey doctors "are reticent" about having 
their names appear on a public list of registered marijuana doctors.

This creates a shortage of doctors who may approve the drug, he said. 
Making this registration voluntary would address the problem, he said.

He also suggested adding chronic pain to the list of ailments that 
are eligible for marijuana treatment, saying it was a "real, real 
problem and it ruins people's quality of life."

To avoid potential abuse, Weisser said, a patient with this condition 
could be required to get approval from two doctors.

Ken Wolski, a nurse and executive director of the Coalition for 
Medical Marijuana New Jersey, said patients were frustrated that they 
had to drive for hours to purchase the drug because so few 
dispensaries are open. He and others have urged the Health Department 
to allow other operators to apply for a license to open a dispensary.

"The goals of the Department of Health should be for the patients to 
have timely, affordable access to medical marijuana," Wolski said.

He also said there was "a great deal of ignorance and misinformation 
in the medical community that needs to be addressed" so more patients 
could get the pain relief they needed.

Health Commissioner Mary E. O'Dowd said in a statement read at the 
committee hearing that her department was "currently finalizing two 
reports" that will outline the program and provide statistics on how 
it has been implemented.

So far, she said, there are more than 1,700 patients, and "nearly 80 
percent of them have been served" by the three dispensaries that are 
open. Two of the dispensaries that are planned are undergoing 
background checks. The sixth is in the process of building, she said.

"A clear priority of the program has been a focus on customer 
service," she said, adding that the department has responded to more 
than 16,600 calls and e-mails.

A department representative said that about 47 percent of patients 
and caregivers qualified for a reduced registration fee of $20 after 
providing documents showing they could not afford the $200.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom