The grass is looking greener for New Jersey marijuana users. The idea of legal pot was once a pipe dream for those who so indulged. Not anymore. Gov.-elect Phil Murphy has pledged to sign legislation legalizing pot within 100 days of his Jan. 16 inauguration, prompting speculation on what that hazy world would look like. Among the particulars that have been largely agreed upon: New Jerseyans would be permitted to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana for personal use, and previous convictions for such possession would be eligible for expungement. [continues 515 words]
Two Republicans representing Morris County in Trenton want to 'put breaks' on legalization of marijuana by governor-elect. Two Republicans representing Morris County in Trenton are pushing back against the promise by Governor-elect Phil Murphy to sign a bill legalizing marijuana in the first 100 days of his administration. Murphy and the Democratic majorities in the Senate and Assembly have said they want marijuana legalized in early 2018, which could generate up to $300 million in annual taxes to the state. [continues 697 words]
The Garden State could soon become a bit more green. Proponents of legalized marijuana in New Jersey are lining up in the aftermath of Phil Murphy's election as governor, anticipating no-questions-asked pot sales to adults by late next year with an ally in the governor's office. Murphy has named the head of a marijuana trade group as his chief of staff, and a new association for marijuana retailers has formed. The governor-elect vowed during his campaign to legalize the drug, and the growing industry is counting on him to quickly make good on the pledge. [continues 990 words]
In this divided nation, we should be able to at least find common cause in the fight to stop and treat opioid addiction, a scourge that knows no single identity, and that does not respect geographic boundaries or common socio-economic factors. This is a fight we must all take up, arm in arm, because in one way or another it affects all Americans. Indeed, the more we know about this menace to our national health, the worse it seems. According to a new analysis released by the Trump White House, the opioid addiction crisis may already be much worse than previously thought. According to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the true cost of the crisis, as of 2015, stands at $504 billion, a figure more than six times the most recent estimate. [continues 405 words]
PATERSON -- About a dozen men and women sat on hard plastic chairs early Wednesday morning inside a conference room at the Well of Hope Drop-In Center on Broadway, where a flat screen television broadcast sports highlights on ESPN. Some came for the free coffee. A sign said the limit was one cup per hour. Others were there to use the showers and toilet facilities. A 57-year-old man who would only give his name as "Julius" was waiting to see a nurse about a blister on his foot. [continues 957 words]
Energy drinks could be a gateway to cocaine use, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Public Health found that young adults who said they'd consumed energy drinks yearly between ages 21 and 24 were at greater risk for subsequently doing cocaine, using prescription stimulants for non-medical uses and problem drinking. The 1,099 study participants were recruited as 18-year-old college students. Those who didn't consume energy drinks as they got older were less likely to develop substance-abuse problems. [continues 338 words]
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump met with Cabinet members and senior staff at his golf club in Bedminster to discuss the opioid crisis. Missing at the meeting was Gov. Chris Christie, the chairman of the president's commission charged with studying the national rise of heroin and opioid addiction. Christie is on vacation. While the governor missed the meeting, the president is missing the message Christie has been sending for several years: treatment over incarceration will save lives. Long before his approval rating tanked at 15 percent, Christie used his then sizable political capital to focus on treatment and rehabilitation. He did it when he pushed for drug courts. He did it when he eloquently spoke of a law student friend who died because of addiction. And during his presidential bid, Christie resonated most effectively with voters when talking about drug addiction. [continues 473 words]
When it comes to the state's medical marijuana law, progress has come in increments rather than great strides. New Jersey's Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, state law since 2010, has been implemented ever so slowly under Gov. Chris Christie, who has never hidden his disdain for the law. Yet those disappointed by the snail's pace of the law, and the establishment of new medical marijuana centers, have new reason to take heart. As Staff Writer Lindy Washburn reported, North Jersey will soon be welcoming the state's largest dispensary of medical marijuana yet -- at a 10,000-square-foot facility on Meadowlands Parkway in Secaucus. Once it opens, the dispensary plans to serve up to 4,000 patients a month with a variety of strains of cannabis. The Christie administration has issued a permit to grow medical marijuana to Harmony Foundation and will consider issuing a permit to dispense marijuana after the crop is tested later this year. [continues 357 words]
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker introduced a bill Tuesday to make marijuana legal at the federal level, marking the first time the New Jersey Democrat has come out in favor of full legalization and further stoking tensions with a Trump administration that has sought to roll back the clock on federal drug policy. The Marijuana Justice Act, as Booker is calling his bill, would also allow people serving time for marijuana-related offenses to be resentenced and automatically expunge federal marijuana use and possession crimes. States whose marijuana laws disproportionately affect minorities or poor people would lose federal funding for law enforcement and prison construction, among other funds. [continues 699 words]
The call to legalize marijuana in New Jersey has been loud and clear, lately. Legalization rallies have occurred in groups in Trenton, and front-runners from both parties of the gubernational primary elections have been vocal in their support of legalization. What is there to know about the legalization of marijuana in New Jersey? The state's medical marijuana program added 5,000 participants last year, and total enrollment now exceeds 10,000, according to the state's Health Department. There are five state-licensed dispensaries, also known as alternative treatment centers, and Secaucus just got approval to open its own dispensary. [continues 179 words]
Regarding "Marijuana should be legalized" (Your Views, June 6): The points the writer raises regarding legalizing cannabis are ignorant and obviously not factual. They are clearly just his uneducated opinion. Just how will legalization reduce street drug markets? Issues of increased tax revenue, economic boost to retail and job creation, and not contributing to homelessness and violence are irrelevant. Do you want to be driving your car at 70 miles an hour on the Turnpike with your kid in the back, next to someone who is high because he just finished smoking a recreational joint? [continues 152 words]
Regarding "Opioid crisis continues to grow" (Editorial, July 22): Most of the efforts on overdosing of opioids in Governor Christie's programs have to do with treating the addict. We need more to be done to prevent the addiction from happening in the first place. And at the same time, we should not shame people who want to use soft drugs. When we have a legal drug, alcohol, which causes far more harm than cannabis does, there is something wrong. We need to acknowledge that some people have a need to benefit from cannabis, and we gain nothing by censuring them. The "stigma" hasn't really worked very well. People have found benefit from this plant. We would be better off accepting this rather than putting them through arrests and worse. Roy Sutton Rahway, July 25 [end]
The national opioid crisis is spreading. Despite increased awareness of the dangers of abusing prescription drugs, the numbers of fatalities and overdoses continue to rise. That is too true in Bergen County. As Staff Writer Steve Janoski reports, despite the efforts of Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal, the county appears on track to surpass last year's totals of 320 overdoses; 259 of which were opioid related. Ninety-eight people died. That's an 11 percent increase in overdoses from 2015 and a 12.6 percent increase in fatalities. [continues 441 words]
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) - A Pennsylvania man charged with trying to drive through the Holland Tunnel with a cache of weapons on his way to rescue a teenager from a drug den will ask New Jersey's governor for a pardon after a judge denied his request to enter a pretrial intervention program. Attorney James Lisa told a judge Thursday that he will seek a pardon after the judge denied allowing John Cramsey, of East Greenville, to enter the program after he earlier rejected a plea. [continues 311 words]
Medical patients in severe pain seek comfort in a variety of ways. Some remedies, they find, work better than others. Some medications, they find, are less addictive than others. These are factors that must be weighed as New Jersey considers the pros and cons of whether to expand its list of "debilitating medical conditions" for those who wish to participate in the state's medical marijuana program. More than 12,500 residents have been registered under the program since it was legalized in 2010, yet many more patients and caregivers want to participate and say the state's existing rules are too restrictive. We agree. [continues 379 words]
Looking beyond Gov. Chris Christie and seeing a more socially liberal future, Democratic lawmakers opened their campaign to legalize marijuana in New Jersey with a lengthy legislative hearing Monday. Although no vote was planned on the bill that was introduced last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing formally set in motion a campaign to make New Jersey among the first states in the Northeast to legalize marijuana. Voters in eight other states and Washington, D.C., have approved marijuana legalization, but New Jersey would be the first to do so through legislation. [continues 615 words]
Anyone looking to buttress the argument for decriminalizing marijuana in New Jersey should take a close look at a new American Civil Liberties Union report regarding the War on Pot. To sum up: It's a needless fight being waged badly. Pot arrests have been rising steadily under Gov. Chris Christie, which shouldn't be a surprise. Christie continues to regard marijuana as a gateway drug to harder substances, and dragged his feet on implementing New Jersey's medicinal marijuana law. Christie's compassion and enlightenment regarding drug addiction and how best to combat it seems to stop at opioids. [continues 406 words]
The legalization of small amounts of marijuana for people 21 and over came before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday as the committee considers abill introduced by Sen. Nicolas Scutari, D-Union. According to Scutari's office, no vote was taken. (To listen to the hearing, click here.) In the bill, Scutari mentions the cost to New Jersey for enforcement. Marijuana possession arrests made up three out of every five drug arrests in New Jersey in 2012. The state shells out about $127 million per year on marijuana possession enforcement efforts. [continues 809 words]
West Milford police revived a 31-year-old Hewitt woman suffering from a heroin overdose on Jan. 21. [photo] A West Milford police car sits idle behind town hall on Dec. 31, 2016.(Photo: Joe Sarno/NorthJersey.com) WEST MILFORD -- Local police revived a 31-year-old Hewitt woman suffering from an apparent heroin overdose on Saturday afternoon. West Milford police officers administered the opioid-blocking medication naloxone to the resident after finding her unresponsive at approximately 2:12 p.m. on Jan. 21, according a Jan. 24 press release from the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office. [continues 66 words]
McKesson Corporation agreed to pay $150 million to settle allegations from federal authorities that the company failed to monitor and report suspicious sales of oxycodone and hydrocodone. The Washington Post reported on the settlement in December, gleaned from a publicly disclosed Form 8-K filed by McKesson on April 30, 2015. Tuesday was the first mention of the settlement by federal law enforcement authorities. The settlement stemmed from an earlier case. In 2008, McKesson agreed to pay $13.25 million after the government alleged it failed to create and maintain a system to detect and report suspicious orders of increasing amounts of oxycodone and hydrocodone pills to independent and small chain pharmacies. [continues 297 words]
[Name redacted] of Denville, was charged by Wayne police with possession of heroin.(Photo: Courtesy of Wayne Police) [Name redacted], 26, of Denville was arrested and charged with possession of 39 bags of heroin, among other charges, on Jan. 4. According to police records, Officer Tomasz Cydzik observed a 2000 Honda Civic parked in the CVS parking lot on Hamburg Turnpike with her head down "as if unconscious" around 9:40 p.m. When the officer approached, [name redacted] opened her eyes and police observed an uncapped syringe inside the vehicle, according to police reports. After further investigation, five Suboxone under-the-tongue films, one Clonazepam pill, a sandwich-sized plastic bag containing suspected marijuana, two additional hypodermic needles, multiple open glassine bags of suspected heroin, 39 additional bags of heroin stamped "suicide squad" and one small zip lock bag containing suspected cocaine, police records show. [continues 59 words]
Anti-drug advocates hailed Gov. Chris Christie's pledge Tuesday to make New Jersey's addiction crisis a top job in the final year of his term in office, but there were worries about funding and follow through. Using soaring rhetoric, heartfelt personal stories of loss and unmistakable zeal, the governor used his State of the State address to outline a series of new initiatives to battle the opioid epidemic that has devastated New Jersey. Paul Ressler, who lost his son Corey to a heroin overdose and now runs an organization that informs the public about the use of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, praised the goal of getting more teenagers into treatment. Christie promised to change state regulations that exclude 18 and 19 year olds from treatment facilities for children. [continues 1053 words]
[photo] Gov. Chris Christie led a roundtable discussion at Integrity House in Newark, following the signing of an executive order declaring opoid addiction a public health crisis. At right, Integrity House President Robert Budsock. At left is Vanessa, an Integrity House program graduate.(Photo: Dale Mincey / NorthJersey) NEWARK -- In front of a small group of recovering addicts, Gov. Chris Christie signed an executive order on Tuesday declaring the opioid addiction problem in New Jersey a public health crisis. The event, which was held at Integrity House -- an substance abuse recovery home on South Street in Newark -- took place less than an hour after Lt. Gov. Kim Guagdano announced her candidacy to succeed him as governor. [continues 587 words]
[photo] Governor Christie's attorney asked for the dismissal of a probable cause finding on an official misconduct complaint over the George Washington Bridge lane closures.(Photo: Chris Pedota/NorthJersey) Chris Christie plunged himself into the center of a crisis on Tuesday. It's a place where he's comfortable and often compelling. It's also a place where he thrives. "Our friends are dying. Our neighbors are dying. Our co-workers are dying. Our children are dying. Every day. In numbers we can no longer ignore,'' Christie said in his seventh State of the State speech, which was part sermon, part call to arms for the Legislature to confront the state's drug addiction crisis that "is ripping the very fabric of this state." [continues 940 words]
[photo] Governor Chris Christie delivers his State of the State address on Tuesday.(Photo: Chris Pedota/NorthJersey) As he composed a lengthy State of the State speech dedicated to battling New Jersey's heroin and opiate crisis, Governor Christie said he was intent on including one component that will not only challenge lawmakers in Trenton, but drastically alter the health care industry around the state. He insisted on a new law mandating that no resident with health insurance could be denied coverage for the first six months of inpatient or outpatient treatment, an unprecedented length of time, experts say. He told his administration two months ago to figure out how such a major change could be done. [continues 869 words]
The opioid epidemic may have cost as many lives as have been recently lost in Syria. Yet understanding it is difficult. I saw an Associated Press article that showed that pharmaceutical companies are focusing on lobbying state legislatures. There is a strong relationship between Medicare prescriptions and state income. The poorer the state, the more opioid prescriptions, presumably showing that legislators are particularly vulnerable to Big Pharma if their constituents don't have much money. There is a correlation also with a state's Republican leadership suggesting that less regulation leads to more Medicare opioid prescriptions. [continues 88 words]
The program launched by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office provides rehabilitation to those without insurance. Heroin and fentanyl deaths are rising in Ocean County.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto) Anyone suffering from addiction can now drop into two police departments in Ocean County and get treatment, whether they have insurance or not, officials announced Monday morning. The program also allows addicts to turn in their drugs without fear of being prosecuted, Al Della Fave, the spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said. The office is spearheading the program known as the Heroin Addiction Response Program. [continues 542 words]
[photo] A medical marijuana dispensary is proposed for 1154 N. Main St. in Algonquin. Algonquin officials are considering a medical marijuana company's proposal to open a dispensary in a medical office complex. ILDISP III LLC, represented by Ross Morreale, is seeking a special-use permit for a free-standing building at 1154 N. Main St., out of which the company would sell marijuana to patients with a prescription. An attached garage would also be added onto the building, which formerly housed an MRI center, as a secure area for deliveries and waste removal, according to the proposal. [continues 234 words]
Six months ago, AJ Solomon visited Gov. Chris Christie at the State House to apologize for using heroin while a member of the governor's advance team. [photo] Governor Chris Christie told the story of AJ Solomon, a recovering heroin addict, to illustrate his focus on combating drug addiction in New Jersey. Here, the Governor hugs Solomon as he exits after the address.(Photo: Chris Pedota/NorthJersey.com) Six months ago, AJ Solomon visited Gov. Chris Christie at the State House to apologize for what he felt was the ultimate betrayal -- using heroin while a member of the governor's advance team in 2012 and 2013. [continues 629 words]
Christie this week reaffirmed his public commitment to making N.J. a national leader in fighting drug addiction. [photo] Governor Christie speaks about drug addiction at a Walgreens in East Brunswick on Dec. 22, 2016.(Photo: Nicholas Pugliese/STATE HOUSE BUREAU) Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday visited a Walgreens in East Brunswick to highlight initiatives the company is undertaking to promote the safe disposal of unused prescriptions drugs and expand access to a medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose. His final public appearance before Christmas came on the heels of a related event Wednesday evening where Christie and former Gov. Jim McGreevey led a candlelight vigil on the State House steps in memory of people who have died from or are struggling with addiction. [continues 642 words]
New Jersey will receive a $1.3 million grant to target the heroin trade and illegal prescription drug activity as law enforcement and legislators team up to lower rates of addiction and overdoses, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. announced Thursday. [photo] A grant from the U.S. Justice Department would target the heroin trade and misuse of prescription drugs.(Photo: RECORD FILE PHOTO) New Jersey will receive a $1.3 million grant to target the heroin trade and illegal prescription drug activity as law enforcement and legislators team up to lower rates of addiction and overdoses, Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. announced Thursday. [continues 248 words]
[photo] Governor Chris Christie holds a baby boy facing perinatal addiction while the boy's grandmother looks on while he was touring the Jersey Shore Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Neptune, N.J. on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016. The baby boy is 49 days old and suffers from withdrawal symptoms transferred from his mother who had addiction issues. (Photo: Tim Larsen/Governor's office) With changes to health care among the top priorities for President-elect Donald Trump when he takes office next month, New Jersey is likely to gain greater flexibility in Medicaid and possibly help drug users get access to treatment, Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday. [continues 421 words]
One is a former nurse. Another used to be in law enforcement. There were a recruiter and a graphic designer. Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal and Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino at the press conference on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016. They were among 40 people arrested this week in an investigation led by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office to combat the area's "staggering" heroin epidemic. This time, after arresting the alleged users for drug possession, detectives offered them help -- the chance to enter a five-day detox program run by Bergen County Regional Medical Center. Twelve people accepted. [continues 1881 words]
Sitting in a jail cell and preparing to spend as many as five years in state prison for two heroin possession charges, Matt Lopreiato found himself at a grim crossroads. "I destroyed my family inside and out. I felt like my life was over. No family, no friends," the 27-year-old Toms River man said. "I felt like I was alone and would be better off dead to be completely honest with you." The heroin addict went cold turkey and spent 43 days in Ocean County Jail. Then an offer arrived: go through addiction treatment, succeed and go free. [continues 899 words]
Paterson Police Director Jerry Speziale confirmed Saturday afternoon that city police are investigating a report that a 3-year-old tested positive for marijuana early Saturday morning. Speziale said that at 3 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 31, police were met by child protective services at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center because "a 3-year-old had tested positive for marijuana." "It is an unfortunate situation," Speziale said. "We don't if it is because of contact or ingestion. We take these situations as serious." [continues 91 words]
Lacey Township Middle School is one of the first in the region to drug test middle school students. Here's why. LACEY -- Middle schoolers here are among the first in the region to take part in a random drug testing program that could shape the battle against drug abuse. Superintendent Craig Wigley said the program is ready to launch after New Year's, and he expects about 100 of the middle school's roughly 700 students to participate. Parents must enroll their seventh- and eighth-graders in order to take part in the voluntary program, under which students who fail a random drug test would be removed from sports and extracurricular activities for 10 days after the first offense, 45 days after the second offense, and longer for a third offense. [continues 451 words]
Heroin's deadly cousin, the synthetic opioid fentanyl, figured in 417 fatal drug overdoses in New Jersey in 2015, nearly three times the number of fentanyl-related deaths in the year before, according to new state figures. The findings from the Office of the State Medical Examiner confirm the fears of law enforcement and public health officials, who have been forecasting an ever-rising body count from opioid addiction. In 2014, the number of fentanyl-related deaths in New Jersey stood at 142. [continues 465 words]
TRENTON - Ed Forchion wants to film a reality show chronicling the impact of the country's so-called War on Drugs on his life. He has a couple titles in mind: "The War on NJ Weedman." Or perhaps even better, "Marijuana Martyr." Forchion pointed to prosecutors' desire in a drug case in Trenton that could land him in prison for years to protect the identity of a confidential informant who allegedly purchased weed from him several times at his downtown city business. [continues 814 words]
TRENTON - Wearing a tailored gray pinstripe suit and a ganja chain dangling from his neck, Trenton's well-known marijuana activist showed up more than 15 minutes late to court Tuesday for his arraignment where prosecutors formally extended a plea offer that could send him to prison for years. Ed "NJ Weedman" Forchion pleaded not guilty to 11 drug-related charges and was offered a 7-year plea to admit guilt to distributing drugs within 1,000 feet of the Daylight/Twilight School in Trenton. Forchion would have to spend three and a half years in prison, prosecutors said, because his past drug convictions make him an "extended-term" offender. [continues 777 words]
Federal officials remain in a haze when it comes to articulating a comprehensible policy on marijuana. Perhaps last week's ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals curtailing the feds from prosecuting legitimate growers and distributors will help clear the air. Half the nation's states, led by California, permit medicinal applications. Four states and the District of Columbia allow recreational use. In November, California could become the fifth. Yet the federal government still sees marijuana as a dangerous drug and dispensary operators as prosecution targets. [continues 359 words]
TRENTON - Ed Forchion once brought new meaning to the words "high culture." The down-with-earth marijuana activist last year opened his own restaurant, NJ Weedman's Joint, providing Trenton with a unique blend of cannabis and cuisine. Now, NJ Weedman is coming down from a bad high and looking for the courts to save his life and keep alive his once-bustling downtown Trenton businesses. Forchion and attorney Edward Heyburn have put the city on notice of their intent to sue over Forchion's "false arrest," which he says tarnished his reputation and cast a police-produced pall over his restaurant, smoke shop and pot temple, according to a tort claim notice obtained by The Trentonian. [continues 748 words]
TRENTON - Marijuana activist Ed Forchion gave a famous Los Angeles graffiti artist $300 cash, an ounce of weed and an expensive bong to paint a political statement on the side of his "Weedmobile" in 2008. The provocative portrait showed NJ Weedman blowing smoke into Uncle Sam's face. The van would later become a rolling billboard for Forchion's Trenton restaurant and pot temple, capturing in cartoonishly large candor his pro-marijuana views and disdain for New Jersey's "hypocritical" drug laws. [continues 930 words]
The Obama administration's decision to expand opportunities for scientific research of medical marijuana, while leaving cannabis classification under its longtime most-dangerous-drug status, strikes us as an important step, but hardly a solution. The decision is hopeful in that it signals an attempt to end the bureaucratic hurdles that prevent scientific study of the drug that so many advocates claim has curative powers. But leaving in place the stigma and legal problems that a Schedule I designation creates makes the administration's attempt to find some middle ground difficult to truly appreciate. [continues 380 words]
MILITARY VETERANS and New Jersey lawmakers are lobbying Gov. Christie with new vigor to approve a bipartisan bill that would allow marijuana use to treat posttraumatic stress disorder. In the past, the Christie administration had rebuffed requests to add the condition to the list of ailments that qualify for cannabis use. But Christie did not rule out signing the bill when asked about it two weeks ago at a news conference. "I'll read it," he said, softening a bit from his oft-repeated previous statements that he would veto any expansion of the six-year-old medical marijuana program. [continues 802 words]
TRENTON - Marijuana legalization activist Ed Forchion and his attorney took turns bashing police and prosecutors for alleged perjury and gamesmanship and demanded the resignation of the county's top law enforcement official during an impromptu news conference outside criminal court Thursday. Wearing a burgundy pinstripe suit, Forchion, known as NJ Weedman, took a hit from a bong and handed out jury nullification pamphlets following his first appearance in Mercer County Superior Court. He railed against the tactics of Trenton Police and Acting Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri and discussed how his attorney, Edward Heyburn, was at a disadvantage to argue his case in court without a crucial sworn affidavit of probable cause. [continues 854 words]
TRENTON - Facing an 11-count indictment on drug charges, Ed Forchion, aka NJ Weedman, is not breaking a sweat. In fact, the pro-marijuana activist has challenged acting Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri to take the lead on the case. "I'm ready for it," Forchion said Tuesday shortly after learning of the indictment. "I really hope that Prosecutor Onofri presents this case and takes this ass whooping himself." Onofri announced Tuesday in a press release that a grand jury returned the indictment charging the 52-year-old with numerous drug offenses stemming from a raid on April 27 at his restaurant and pot temple directly across from City Hall on East State Street. [continues 630 words]
The digital age is bringing new challenges to the Fourth Amendment. But a key decision last week bolsters this right. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution is crucial to liberty because it protects the "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures." The digital age is bringing new challenges to the Fourth Amendment. But a key decision last week bolsters this right. At issue are devices such as the StingRay by Harris Corp. that, in the company's description, among other things performs "dialed number and registration collection, mobile interrogation and target tracking and location" of cell phones. [continues 288 words]
TRENTON - In the sticky heat of his downtown restaurant, Ed "NJ Weedman" Forchion sat at a table and wiped the plastic cloth covering absentmindedly. He had three things on his mind - first his broken air conditioning, then the broken plumbing, then the cops. Money is tight at the Trenton staple, which is aptly named "Weedman's Joint." Months ago a series of police raids and activity at the combination restaurant and "pot temple" scared many of his customers away, Forchion said. [continues 967 words]
TRENTON - Trenton Police's Facebook status is nonexistent. The department removed its Facebook page sometime Thursday amid allegations that negativity hurled at the department, partially over the arrest of a lightning rod marijuana activist, was being scrubbed from its social media page. That led some activists - working in concert with Ed Forchion, also known as NJ Weedman - to paper the city with public records requests regarding the social media page. One is Steven Wronko, a Spotswood man who earned the national spotlight after being escorted out of Helmetta town hall by police while filing a records request about animal abuses at the borough's beleaguered animal shelter. [continues 819 words]
EDITOR'S NOTE: Legalizing recreational marijuana is being considered in New Jersey. The most recent Rutgers-Eagleton poll shows public support for legalizing recreational marijuana in New Jersey is 58 percent - the highest it's ever been - with 39 percent opposed. Although Gov. Chris Christie has said he would not sign a bill legalizing recreational marijuana, both the state Senate and Assembly are working on legislation. This is the third in a three-part series that will explore the issue of legalizing recreational marijuana and its potential effects on Sussex County and the surrounding area. The series looks at the economic, public health and criminal justice impact legalization could have. All three parts can be viewed at www.njherald.com. [continues 1781 words]
Inside New Jersey
