The suffering continues. It's remedy? Well, it's contained in a document signed into law 18 long months ago by then-New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine on his final day in office. And yet that remedy, officially known as the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, remains out of reach, on a high shelf in the office of Gov. Chris Christie, whose repeated delays in implementing the program guarantee more days of sheer agony for the seriously ill constituents he's sworn to represent. [continues 487 words]
TRENTON "" State medical marijuana programs and the people who work for them are not likely to run afoul of federal law if they keep their operations small and controlled, and don't allow growers to create "industrial marijuana cultivation centers," according to an eagerly-awaited letter from the Obama administration. The letter, obtained by The Star-Ledger this evening, comes more than two months after state Attorney General Paula Dow asked the Obama administration whether New Jersey's future medical marijuana program could violate federal law. [continues 933 words]
TRENTON - Governor Christie won't implement the state's medical marijuana law until the federal government assures him they won't prosecute anyone for working in the program. The federal government has not given similar assurances to other states running medical marijuana programs. Under President Obama, the Department of Justice has not sought to prosecute anyone working in a state-approved medical marijuana program. "The federal government is saying medical marijuana is against the law," Christie said in an appearance on the "On the Line" call-in show. "Until I get that assurance, I cannot ask people to do things that they might get prosecuted by federal prosecutors." [continues 386 words]
We get it already -- Gov. Chris Christie doesn't like the state's legalization of medical marijuana. That's abundantly clear at this point, considering the governor continues to maneuver at every turn to block implementation of the law. He's challenged the number and selection of distribution centers and growers, played around with the required strength of the drug and other provisions, and now says he wants assurances from the federal government that those involved in the program will not be prosecuted for that involvement. [continues 405 words]
Edward Forchion, the Pemberton Township native best known by his alias, NJWeedman, is throwing his hat into the political ring again. The longtime marijuana activist has filed to run as an independent candidate for one of the 8th Legislative District's two state Assembly seats. He is one of 11 independents who have filed to run for state, county or local offices in the November general election. The other independent candidates include Mount Holly resident Paul Bracy, who filed to run for county freeholder, and nine municipal candidates who filed to run for local offices in Bordentown Township, Chesterfield, Cinnaminson, Medford and Wrightstown. [continues 742 words]
The New Jersey Senate has passed a bill outlawing synthetic drugs known as "bath salts." The Senate bill makes it a crime to possess or sell the chemicals used to make the drugs. Marketed as bath salts or incense, they're snorted by users and mimic the effects of cocaine and methamphetamines. They can cause health issues ranging from increased blood pressure and heart rate to hallucinations and suicidal thoughts. The bill must also pass the Assembly and be signed by Gov. Chris Christie before becoming law. In April, New Jersey's attorney general classified the chemicals used to make the drug as controlled dangerous substances. A law passed by the Kansas Legislature to ban bath salts took effect on Saturday. [end]
State Targets Vendors Selling Drug New Jersey store owners who have been peddling a designer hallucinogenic drug labeled as bath salts and plant food have 10 days to voluntarily surrender them or face criminal consequences, according to New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow. On Thursday, Ms. Dow set a May 18 deadline for storeowners who have been selling the drugs to surrender them or be at risk for arrest on charges of distribution, sale or possession of drugs. The drugs-packaged under names such as "Energizing Aromatherapy," "Ivory Wave" and "Vanilla Sky"-were placed on the state's Controlled Dangerous Substance list on Wednesday. The penalty for possession of these designer drugs now is three to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to $25,000, Ms. Dow said. [continues 153 words]
I am writing this letter in regard to the final weeks of the public comment period for the New Jersey's medical marijuana program. I choose to write to the Press instead of the state, which would rather manipulate the sick and seriously ill residents of New Jersey than help them. New Jersey patients and residents need to know so they can continue to call their elected representatives. As a multiple sclerosis patient for the past 14 years and medical-marijuana user for more than half of them, I am disgusted that New Jersey regulations will include room for seeds and branches, leaves and other vegetation, etc., within the 2 ounces per month al-lowed to qualifying patients. [continues 174 words]
Regarding the March 23 editorial, "Medical marijuna in N.J./Too cumbersome": If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Like any drug, 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 rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding "reefer madness" propaganda. [continues 73 words]
We're glad to see the state's Compassionate Use Marijuana Act finally taking hold with the designation of six nonprofits to grow and sell what will now be a prescription medicine for patients in debilitating pain. A board member of one of the nonprofits, based in Princeton, spoke with Times Staff Writer Meir Rinde last week. What William Thomas of the Compassionate Care Foundation said should settle any lingering qualms there might be about the no-nonsense system in place to safeguard growing and distribution of the drug. [continues 353 words]
USING marijuana for medicinal purposes has been legal in New Jersey for more than a year. But the Christie administration's move to graft excessive regulations overtop the strong state law has stalled the drug's legal availability. While we are extremely frustrated by the snail's pace and disagree with some of the new limitations, we can only welcome any move forward on this issue. Terminally ill New Jerseyans whose diseases wrack their bodies with pain have waited far too long for relief. [continues 917 words]
There's a real New Jersey flavor -- and not in a good way -- to the continuing struggle to implement the state's medical marijuana law. Restrictive rules imposed by Gov. Chris Christie threaten access to and the quality of the drug, weakening the ability of the measure to bring pain relief to chronically and terminally ill patients. Some critics of the rules have grown so frustrated that some are now talking about scrapping the measure altogether and starting fresh. Others, however, equally unhappy with the delay, are now suggesting that the law -- with the Christie rules in place -- be allowed to move forward because of the expectation that it will fail, forcing some easing of the regulations. [continues 352 words]
BELLMAWR -- Bellmawr officials were shocked Tuesday to find the borough on a state-issued list of future medicinal marijuana distribution sites. Turns out the surprise was for good reason, as officials with the North Jersey company awarded a permit to run the "alternative treatment center" have yet to lease a facility or go through any of the steps to get a business permit in the borough. William Thomas, president and CEO of Compassionate Care Foundation Inc., said the nonprofit indicated in its application to the state it is interested in a site in Bellmawr. But Thomas said the company also is open to other locations in South Jersey as well. [continues 509 words]
State: Towns Still Have Say News that a state-approved medicinal marijuana dispensary would be located here was met with mixed reactions. At least two local officials -- a township committeeman and a police captain -- expressed concern, while two people who work near the proposed site said they aren't so worried. And the CEO of the dispensary said it would benefit the community as a whole. Breakwater Alternative Treatment Center Corp. is among six centers in New Jersey to receive state Department of Health and Senior Services approval to distribute medical marijuana. It plans to set up shop in an office building at Route 33 and Madison Avenue, township officials said. [continues 594 words]
We don't blame Gov. Chris Christie for trying to craft a medical-marijuana program that does not become a farce, like California's or Colorado's programs, which make it far too easy for just about anyone to get "medical" pot. But Christie's proposed regulations governing the program go too far, and Monday's announcement of the six "alternative treatment centers" that will be allowed to legally grow and sell marijuana only added to the problems with the program. [continues 375 words]
It looks as though the taxpayers of New Jersey might be paying for the room and board of another felony gardener ("Trenton man is arrested in marijuana bust" (March 17). Have the local police solved all of New Jersey's rapes, robberies and murders? If not, why are they going after gardeners? If the state would regulate, control and tax cannabis, it could make money off of it instead of giving free housing to nonviolent gardeners. Kirk Muse, Mesa, Ariz. [end]
States should seek alternatives to drug courts for addicts, but if they can't, they should use New Jersey's program as model, according to two reports released today by watchdog groups. Drug courts in most states, the reports said, tend to "cherry pick" participants they feel will do best in the program, such as recreational users, and not necessarily select those who need help the most. New Jersey's drug courts, which started experimentally in 1996 and expanded to all 21 counties by 2002, focus on the more difficult cases, a model that serves well for other states, said Nastassia Walsh, a researcher for the Justice Policy Institute who authored "Addicted to Courts: How a Growing Dependence on Drug Courts Impacts People and Communities." [continues 313 words]
Webster "Dan" Todd Jr., brother of New Jersey's first female governor, Christie Whitman, is now a pioneer in his own right: he sits on the board of one of the first legally-sanctioned medical marijuana providers in the Garden State. The 72-year-old former Assemblyman said his son, William, is the driving force behind the creation of Compassionate Sciences, Inc., one of six nonprofit agencies the state health department announced Monday would produce and sell the drug later this year. The facility will be run at a location yet to be determined in either Burlington County or Camden County. [continues 433 words]
It has been more than a year since medical marijuana was legalized in the state. And yet the deadline for would-be marijuana growers and sellers to apply to the state for a license only arrived last Monday. Not that it really seems to matter much. Patients still don't have access to the marijuana and the pain relief it offers and will have to continue to wait while lawmakers try to hammer out the rules for implementation. And patients don't even know what it is to which they will have access when the time comes. That's how bogged down this entire process has become. [continues 324 words]
Inside New Jersey
