Thank you for your call to Governor Christie to implement the medical marijuana program immediately ("Speed the relief," Editorials, July 13). We should consider why he has such concern for "doing it right." The elephant in the room is those people who will not qualify to be medical marijuana patients. They are in a gray area. Their ailments are not considered severe enough or they are simply recreational users. They would love to stop being treated as criminals. Some people prefer cannabis over aspirin and other products for pain relief. [continues 108 words]
STOP BLOWING smoke. It's time to inhale. Cancer patients, people with AIDS, victims of Lou Gehrig's disease and others have waited long enough. They were supposed to be allowed to smoke medical marijuana starting in October. Thirteen other states already allow it, and New Jersey became the 14th back in January, when the Legislature passed the nation's strictest law and then-Gov. Jon Corzine signed it. But then Governor Christie pushed back the start date to January 2011, in a move befitting a prosecutor, because he wanted "to do it the right way," his spokesman said. [continues 313 words]
WE FEEL there is no question about it: The careful, legal distribution of medicinal marijuana to those in need is a good thing. The New Jersey Legislature agreed and passed legislation permitting distribution last January. Then-Gov. Jon Corzine signed the measure before leaving office. But Governor Christie has requested a delay in its implementation, and a proposal to modify the system of distribution is cause for concern. More than a year ago, Seton Hall Law's Center for Health and Pharmaceutical Law and Policy distributed a position paper to New Jersey lawmakers urging passage of the marijuana measure, called the "New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act." The center did so citing the inclusion of "multiple measures designed to reduce the risk of abuse or diversion" and noting that "the medical literature supports the conclusion that smoked marijuana can provide relief to patients suffering from debilitating medical conditions for whom conventional treatments have failed." [continues 871 words]
With Rutgers out as a medical marijuana cultivator, governor must follow other states' lead. In trying to have Rutgers University, a state institution, do all the marijuana cultivating for the state's approved-but-not-yet-operational medical marijuana program, it's clear what the goal was: Keep tight government control over what is still an illegal drug. Friday, Rutgers officials announced the university wants no part of growing and harvesting marijuana for the state program. Rutgers officials say that growing marijuana for medical use by AIDS and cancer patients and New Jerseyans with other ailments would jeopardize federal funding the university receives. Last year Rutgers got $552 million in various monies from Washington, including research contracts, grants, student loans and work study funds. [continues 364 words]
Regarding your editorial ("A faltering bid to legalize marijuana"), no matter how clever one can write, cannabis not a gateway drug, and that's according to drug rehabilitation experts and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The war on drugs is not merely a boondoggle, it's a failed policy leading to over 750,000 arrests in this country each year for smoking a little harmless weed. U.S. cannabis revenues topped $110 billion last year, making it the largest cash crop in the country. In a nation that values markets and democracy equally, it seems hypocritical to outlaw something most Americans have voted for with their pocketbooks and wallets. John Thomas Ellis, Kentfield, Cal. Mr. Ellis is a columnist and media critic for The West Coast Leaf. [end]
Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding "reefer madness" propaganda. Marijuana prohibition has failed miserably as a deterrent. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available to adults. The only clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless, tough-on-drugs politicians who've built careers confusing the drug war's collateral damage with a relatively harmless plant. Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, DC [end]
In your recent editorial ("A Faltering Bid to Legalize Marijuana,") I wish you had identified the polls that say California's Proposition 19 is "hemorrhaging support." I have not seen them, and I've been paying attention. You make light of what has devolved to devastating societal damage, the collateral damage of the drug war. Michelle Alexander describes it in her 2010 book, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness." After reading that, George Carlin's jokes fall flat. John Chase, Palm Harbor, Fla. - -- The Field Poll shows the Californian proposition trailing 48-44 percent. Poll director Mark DiCamillo says that when advocates of ballot questions "start out behind, the odds are against you." --Ed. [end]
Five months before its new medical marijuana law is set to take effect, New Jersey this week moved further away from having answers to basic questions about how the law will work - specifically, who will grow the marijuana and who will dispense it. Gov. Chris Christie's administration had been pursuing a plan to make Rutgers University the only approved cultivator of cannabis, and to make teaching hospitals the only places where patients could get it. But on Thursday, Rutgers announced that it would not participate for fear of losing grants from the federal government. State officials said the hospitals had the same concern. [continues 594 words]
Earlier this year, the state legislature approved a bill that allowed the use of medicinal marijuana in New Jersey. The measure, signed into law by former Gov. Jon Corzine, was originally supposed to take effect this summer, giving relief to those suffering from chronic pain that defies traditional drugs. But the Christie administration has dragged its feet in implementing the law. That's a shame. With the passage of the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana, New Jersey joined the growing number of states that allow the regulated use of marijuana. The law called for the creation of six private but heavily regulated alternative treatment centers that would dispense marijuana to patients under a doctor's care. [continues 280 words]
The late comedian George Carlin used to explain why marijuana would never be legalized: The pothead committee members in charge of the legalization campaign would never be able to remember what they did with the petition. "Hey, man, I thought you had it," says one committee member. "No, man, I thought you had it?" says a second member. "Far out, man!" says a third member, staring off into space. Actually, pothead committee members and the whereabouts of the petition turn out not to be problem. [continues 544 words]
Last month, the Legislature delayed medical marijuana access and floated a new concept for the program: Rutgers University could be named as the sole source for all medical cannabis cultivation and the marijuana would be distributed only by hospitals. Patients could access marijuana at hospitals, to be sure, and Rutgers University certainly has the capability of farming medical cannabis. But the university's Boards of Directors and attorneys would be hard-pressed to take on the one thing that private businesses already do: risk. [continues 232 words]
Is the administration trying to pull the plug on New Jersey's medical marijuana law? Of all the shitty ways to die, ALS is arguably the shittiest. Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and in short it is slow death brought on by the steady and methodical withering of the nerves that control your muscles. First, you can't button your shirt. Then, you can't walk and eventually, you can't breathe. The cruelest irony is that the disease does not affect higher brain function, and so even at the very end, you are a fully present mind trapped in a lifeless body, a ghost in a dead machine. Upon diagnosis, most victims live three to five years. A small percentage live for up to 10 years, but only with the assistance of a ventilator, and few would call that living. There is no cure. [continues 3124 words]
TRENTON -- New Jersey's teaching hospitals are campaigning to be the sole dispensers of medical marijuana in the state by touting their secure buildings, connection to patients, and "legitimacy" in the community, according to a proposal obtained by The Star-Ledger. The New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals' pitch is the leading proposal Gov. Chris Christie's administration is considering as it wrestles with implementing the controversial law within the next six months, said state Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), one of the law's sponsors. [continues 775 words]
Well, first things first: Way to backpedal on your own legislation, you numbnuts. I am speaking specifically about the state Legislature deciding to postpone, by three months, New Jersey's medical marijuana program. In simple terms, this means cancer patients, glaucoma sufferers, MS patients, and the rest of the people who can benefit from medical marijuana will continue to be either be (A) not helped or (B) criminals. Well done, Legislature, well done. As to the "why" for the delay, it all pretty much comes down to state control over the law. Basically, who gets to grow and sell the weed for the sick to smoke. [continues 467 words]
I write concerning "Delay sought on medical marijuana" (June 24). Suppose that half, or even more than half, of the people who purchase medical marijuana don't really need it for medical reasons. This means that they are not buying their marijuana from drug dealers, who get their marijuana via the Mexican drug cartels. And it also means that they are not buying their marijuana from drug dealers who also sell other, much more dangerous drugs, like meth, heroin and cocaine. Most marijuana consumers prefer to buy locally grown marijuana of known quality, known purity and known potency. Kirk Muse, Mesa, Ariz. [end]
TRENTON -- Implementation of the state's medical marijuana law would be rolled back to October under new legislation introduced by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora. Gusciora, one of the prime sponsors of New Jersey's Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, said his proposed 90-day delay stems from a request by Gov. Chris Christie's administration that more time be given to craft medical marijuana regulations. "I think we have to be realistic," he said. "We have a change on administration and while (former) Gov. Corzine signed the bill into law in January there was still a lag time for the Christie administration to get it up and running." [continues 395 words]
The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act calls for alternative treatment centers (ATCs) to produce, process and distribute marijuana to qualified patients in New Jersey in a program starting in October. As provided by the law, the state Department of Health and Senior Services has the power to "monitor, oversee and investigate all activities performed by" these ATCs. Many nonprofit entities in New Jersey stand ready to apply to the NJDHSS to become ATCs, to pay whatever fees the NJDHSS requires, and to begin providing medical marijuana to qualified New Jersey patients in compliance with the law. [continues 175 words]
Look at other states and use the best model to get New Jersey's program running this year. In January, New Jersey became the 14th state to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. It was an affirmation of what thousands of sufferers of cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and other conditions already know -- that marijuana is one of the few substances, for some, the only substance, that can take away their daily pain and mask some of their symptoms. New Jersey's law is restrictive, probably more so than all other states that have legalized medical marijuana. Patients certified by a doctor and registered with the state won't be allowed to grow the plant themselves. Rather, they'll have to purchase marijuana from one of a handful of dispensaries around New Jersey that will be created to provide small, strictly governed amounts of marijuana. [continues 340 words]
If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, all marijuana use would be legal "Medical marijuana law could turn N.J. into a new kind of medicine chest," June 13). Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rage have been counterproductive at best. Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. [continues 87 words]
Inside New Jersey
