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]
EDITOR'S NOTE: Legalizing recreational marijuana is being seriously 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 second 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 will look at the economic, public health and criminal justice impact legalization could have. [continues 2557 words]
EDITOR'S NOTE: A bill has been introduced in the New Jersey Assembly to legalize recreational marijuana, allowing adults over the age of 21 to possess, use and grow marijuana. The state Senate had a bill in the last legislative session that never advanced. The bill's primary sponsor, state Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-22nd Dist., has said he will reintroduce legislation soon. A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing held in November 2015 offered advocates of legalization a chance to present their side and another hearing will be held for those opposed. [continues 2174 words]
Regarding the May 29 point-counterpoint relating to drug use between Elaine Pozycki and Jeffrey Miron ("At Issue: Is N.J. winning war on heroin?," I fully support Miron's view that drugs should be legalized. It is absurd to continue this silly crusade against what people want to do.The government should let people make their own decisions on what they consume, good or bad. Pozycki's slant is we should not only continue prohibitions against drug use but increase laws against people's personal desires, as if the government is their parent and they are children. It is apparent, though, that Pozycki is part of the massive "anti-drug" industry that has grown up around the use of opiates. In effect, people like Pozycki are in league with their so-called "opposite" number, the drug cartels, in not wanting drugs legalized. Legalization would destroy their respective livelihoods. [continues 65 words]
TRENTON - New Jersey's famous marijuana activist has claimed responsibility for putting out pamphlets this week that encouraged prospective jurors in a murder trial to vote their conscience and "acquit, even when the evidence proves the defendant 'did it.'" Ed Forchion, better known as NJ Weedman, doesn't need another target on his back. But the marijuana legalization activist says he has been forced to act following a drug raid last month on his capital city business. "I'm getting ready to put on another William Penn trial," said Forchion, referring to the prominent Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania who was arrested in 1670 because his religious preaching ran contrary to the Church of England. [continues 641 words]
Advocates Say Recreational Use Would Pay Off. New Jersey would gain at least $300 million a year in taxes if it followed the lead of four other states and legalized marijuana for recreational use, according to a report released Tuesday by New Jersey Policy Perspective and New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform. The revenue projection is based on imposing an eventual 25 percent sales tax on consumers, who would have to be at least 21 years old. The organizations represent a coalition of advocacy groups working for legalization in New Jersey. They analyzed available data on the number of people who purchase the drug illegally in New Jersey, and examined the experiences of states that recently approved legalization. [continues 422 words]
NEPTUNE - Gov. Chris Christie addressed more than 200 medical and law-enforcement professionals about opioid and opiate addiction, treatment and recovery Thursday, joining a dais that included a pharmaceutical manufacturer, a Massachusetts police chief and an addiction specialist. Christie made it personal. The governor retold a story - about his law school friend, now dead after an apparent overdose on opiates complicated by alcohol - that went viral in November. He said his friend - whom he has never named - was at the head of his law school study group and the first to find success after graduation, and nobody could have foreseen his descent into prescription drug abuse and the implosion of his personal and professional lives. [continues 752 words]
TRENTON - Police say summonses charging Ed Forchion for smoking marijuana in city council chambers last year were signed by officials the day following the incident and sent to him via "regular mail." But Forchion's attorney says that claim doesn't make sense because police must have a record showing they served a complaint before a warrant can be issued for failing to appear in court. "You can't send it regular mail; they might as well just put it in the shredder because it has the same legal effect," Forchion's attorney Ed Heyburn said. "They either deliver it in person, or they send it certified mail and someone has to sign for it. When they go before a judge and request a warrant, they'll be asked to show when they served the complaint." [continues 535 words]
FACT I'M NEITHER PROUD NOR ASHAMED OF: I used to smoke a lot of marijuana. I was pretty much high all the time from September 1990 (when I was a freshman in college) until June of 1999, at which point I decided I didn't want to be high all the time. And really: I was high all the time. I also managed to graduate college, write a book, win journalism awards, meet my future wife, land full time jobs, and be a decent member of society. [continues 514 words]
TRENTON - On Nov. 5, 2015, the local businessman known as NJ Weedman shocked public officials when he lit up a joint and smoked his precious marijuana inside City Council Chambers at Trenton City Hall. This week, Ed Forchion received summonses in the mail charging him with smoking inside a public building in violation of a city ordinance and smoking in public in violation of state law. Trenton Police Capt. Edelmiro Gonzalez, who was one of the many witnesses who saw Forchion smoke inside City Hall, signed the summonses against Forchion, according to Trenton Police Lt. Stephen Varn. [continues 304 words]
TRENTON - Two charges filed by a city police officer against Edward Forchion, aka NJ Weedman, may go up in smoke. The criminal activity allegedly occurred when Forchion appeared in a video that was shot outside his restaurant on May 10 and was subsequently posted to social media. In the clip, Trenton cops are at his restaurant when the weed advocate repeatedly calls officer Herbert Flowers a "pedophile" and a "big boy who (expletive) with little girls." In the video, Flowers appears to laugh off the verbal assault and at one point puts his arms in the arm with a smile, responding "Yep, you said it." [continues 952 words]
A marijuana legalization supporting friend frequently delivers this insight. "It's a plant, L.A. People should not be arrested for smoking a plant," she says. Her potted observations includes the same allowance for Cannabis oil, butter, gummy bears, coffee, etc. Her observation attracts a certain appreciation except for the fact that smoking such plant remains a violation of New Jersey law. Now, if people want to smoke that plant in public or sell such green produce behind the guise of religious temples and fruit smoothies store frontage, then that's the chance they take. [continues 485 words]
Congratulations to the Press on its recent series of articles concerning New Jersey's growing heroin epidemic. They follow the Press' past editorials opposing legalization of recreational marijuana. Convincing Democrat legislators in Trenton to abandon their lust for marijuana-generated tax dollars would be a life-saving decision. It is actually blood money and should never be used to redistribute New Jersey's wealth. Why state legislators led by Sen. Nick Scutari, D-Middlesex-Union-Somerset, are anxious to entice our young into lives that include narcotics is a mystery. This, is in spite of medical professionals and statistics that prove experimentation with marijuana leads to heroin and other hard-core addiction. [continues 155 words]
Henry Gunther was an unhappy man, according to stories told years later by the BBC and The Baltimore Sun. He was unhappy for good reason, as well: It was World War I, he was fighting on the Western Front, and he had recently been demoted back to the rank of private. But the worst was yet to come for Gunther. At 10:59 a.m. on November 11, 1918, outside the village of Villedevant-Chaumont, north of Verdun, Gunther, acting on his own and despite the shouts of his fellow soldiers, ran with his bayonet in hand and single-handedly attempted to attack a heavily fortified German position. In fact, not only did his fellow soldiers tell him to stop, the Germans also yelled at him to stop. [continues 614 words]
Robert Edward "Ed" Forchion Jr. created the persona NJ Weedman shortly after emerging in the late 1990s on his way to becoming one of New Jersey's best known marijuana legalization advocates. During his two-decades of advocacy for the legalization of marijuana, he's been on the front pages of newspapers, in jail cells and courtrooms, and he's run for elected office on all levels of government. Forchion has used marijuana since he was a teen, but in 2001 he says he was diagnosed with tumors in his knees and shoulders, which later become cancerous. He uses marijuana medically too, he maintains. [continues 895 words]
TRENTON - Less than 30 hours after his East State Street businesses were raided by police, Ed Forchion was back at the Joint, rolling a joint and vowing to beat county prosecutors in court. "They just gave me another platform to continue my goal," Forchion told The Trentonian at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, about two hours after his release from jail. "This is exactly what happened in Burlington County. I beat those prosecutors, and I'll beat the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office too. They're on the wrong side of history." [continues 643 words]
TRENTON - Prosecutors say complaints from the community regarding constant foot traffic in and out of Ed Forchion's businesses sparked a two-month investigation that resulted in his property being raided Wednesday afternoon. Prosecutors also say they received information from multiple sources that Forchion, a pot legalization activist known as NJ Weedman, was distributing marijuana from out of the premises. The Mercer County Narcotics Task Force raided Forchion's businesses, which includes a restaurant, religious sanctuary and tobacco shop, on East State Street and allegedly seized more than $19,000 in marijuana. [continues 436 words]
(AP) - A New Jersey marijuana advocate dubbed NJ Weedman has been arrested again on pot charges after police raided his restaurant and cannabis temple. Ed Forchion was arrested Wednesday along with 10 other people after a raid of his business across the street from Trenton City Hall. Forchion has spent time in prison on previous drug charges. He wasn't immediately available to comment. Forchion opened NJ Weedman's Joint and an attached cannabis church last year. He sued Trenton police last month, saying they infringed on his religious rights after shutting down the cannabis temple for operating too late. [end]
TRENTON - The authorities raided NJWeedman's Joint on East State Street Wednesday afternoon. According to police sources the narcotics task force raided the restaurant around 4 p.m. A number of police were seen going in and out of the building, and several people were detained by police. Social media posts have popped up with the hashtag #FreeNJWeedman and friends of Ed Forchion, better known as NJ Weedman, were saying that Forchion, proprietor of the shop, was among those arrested. In addition to running the restaurant and temple, Forchion is a well-known marijuana legalization activist. [continues 236 words]
Dear Gov. Christie my old pal - we will be puffing outside your office on 4/20 at 4:20 p.m. Take this as a personal invitation from me: NJWeedman. April 20 - The Stoner Holiday is next week and once again here in New Jersey there is a planned civil disobedience demonstration on the steps of the state capitol as a direct challenge to you Gov. Christie and your prohibitionist policies. http://tinyurl.com/CapitolSmokeout - - I personally plan on firing one up in your honor celebrating your demise at the Presidential level, don't stand to my left unless you want to see what you've erroneously and naively railed about. Try it i think youll like it. [continues 1062 words]
"I TOLD YOU SO." Harper's Magazine dredged up a 22-year-old interview with President Nixon's former Chief Advisor John Ehrlichman, who admitted the administration created the War on Drugs as a means to intentionally target and decimate the black community. This old story has become big news again, going viral with The Huffington Post, CNN, Rolling Stone and USA Today all covering this "revelation" like it was breaking news. WTF. "The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." [continues 1090 words]
Awful Pain, but Still She Struggled With Decision. Dana Kelley recalls the exact moment when her neurologist suggested she try medical marijuana. The retired Army Intelligence linguist said it caused her emotional upheaval and led her to question her willingness to continue living in constant pain. Kelley's neck and back were severely fractured in a car crash three years ago in her hometown of Pennsville, Salem County. She underwent five surgeries, including a fusion of a large part of her spinal cord, and was prescribed morphine and opiates. [continues 1087 words]
Advocates are happy it was named, but not about the delay in naming it or the people on it. New Jersey's health commissioner recently appointed a panel that will decide whether chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other conditions should be added to the list of a dozen ailments that qualify a patient to buy medical marijuana in the state. Patient advocates have been pressing for nearly four years to have the list expanded, saying it is too restrictive and prevents many severely ill patients from obtaining cannabis. [continues 825 words]
I'm passing this special JOINT to the Trenton Police Officers. Dear Trenton Police Officers. I am not your enemy, none of you should be mad at me for ignoring the marijuana laws. In fact I think you should ignore them as well. They do in the suburbs. You know the potheads are a peaceful bunch. You know arresting someone for marijuana ruins his/ her life more than marijuana use ever could. Some of your spouses, siblings, offspring and parents are potheads. But you continue to arrest non-family potheads here in Trenton. [continues 1255 words]
State Says Prices Are 37% Higher Than Selected Other States. As Pennsylvania moves closer to adopting a medical marijuana program, New Jersey has released a report on its six-year-old program that says its dispensaries charge the highest price for an ounce of marijuana on average, compared with other states with similar programs. The Department of Health report said the five dispensaries operating statewide charge an average of $489 per ounce, about 37 percent more than the average price in Arizona, New Mexico, Vermont, Maine, and Rhode Island. Most of these states have a cost-of-living index of 10 percent or less than New Jersey, said the report, released this month. [continues 530 words]
As Pennsylvania moves closer to adopting a medical marijuana program, New Jersey has released a report on its six-year-old program that says its dispensaries charge the highest price for an ounce of marijuana on average, compared with other states with similar programs. The Department of Health report said the five dispensaries operating statewide charge an average of $489 per ounce, about 37 percent more than the average price in Arizona, New Mexico, Vermont, Maine, and Rhode Island. Most of these states have a cost-of-living index of 10 percent or less than New Jersey, said the report, released this month. [continues 533 words]
Well I really wanted to write about the GOP politics and the national election campaigns going on this week but instead - thanks to the Trenton Police Department (TPD). I'll be opinionating my point of view on "FREEDOM of RELIGION" because it obviously differs from TPD's view. In third or fourth grade social studies I was taught at Winslow Twp. School number two that all Americans have the right to choose their own religions. This right was so revered by the founders (sorry natives) of this country that they made it the first right. As most people as a child I followed the faith of my parents. I was brought up in a traditional Baptist church, the First Baptist of Berlin, New Jersey. Most of our services were at traditional hours 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at the latest, but occasionally we had Midnight Mass on special occasions like New Years, and Easter. Black eye peas & pork, hymnals and amens. The Winslow Twp. Police would never had banned this. [continues 905 words]
TRENTON (AP) - After battling the legal system on two coasts and spending time in and out of prison, New Jersey's loudest champion of marijuana went legit last year when he opened up a restaurant across from city hall in this state's capital city. Now, he's headed back to court. Ed Forchion, better known as NJ Weedman, said Wednesday that Trenton police infringed on his religious rights after shutting down the cannabis temple attached to his restaurant for operating too late at night last weekend. [continues 472 words]
TRENTON - Marijuana activist and businessman Ed Forchion, better known as NJ Weedman, alleges the city of Trenton violated his First Amendment rights early Saturday when police officers asked the congregants inside Forchion's East State Street sanctuary to pack up and vacate the premises. "They came out here like it was a shooting," Forchion said of the police action. "The only thing that was missing was yellow tape." Forchion operates enterprises across from Trenton City Hall that include NJ Weedman's Joint restaurant at 322 East State St. and the adjacent Liberty Bell Temple III LLC at 320B East State St. [continues 825 words]
LITTLE FALLS, N.J. (AP) - The New Jersey attorney general's office has notified prosecutors that a lab technician failed to properly analyze evidence in a drug case, calling into question more than 7,800 criminal cases he's worked on over the last decade. Division of Criminal Justice director Elie Honig wrote in a memo last week that Kamal Shah was observed spending insufficient time analyzing a substance to determine if it was marijuana. In a memo dated Monday, Passaic County Deputy Public Defender Judy Fallon said Shahwas basically "observed writing 'test results' for suspected marijuana that was never tested." "Obviously, all his results have been called into question." Shah worked in the drug unit of the state police's North Regional Laboratory. He was removed from lab work in December, said Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General. [end]
The New Jersey Attorney General's Office has notified prosecutors that a forensic scientist botched a lab analysis in a drug case, potentially calling into question thousands of criminal cases across the state. The attorney general has advised county prosecutors to alert defense counsel in the 7,800 cases on which the scientist worked since 2005. Most of the cases are in North Jersey, according to a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office. The scientist, Kamal Shah, worked in the drug unit of the State Police's North Regional Laboratory. [continues 165 words]
As we all know, Gov. Christie is back. No more gallivanting around the country with delusions of the presidency. He's back in time for Bridget Anne Kelly's Bridgegate trial (this April); he's back to get an ear full from the teachers' union, to deal with the pension system, and every Thursday he will once again be confronted by medical marijuana activists who for two years have staged a weekly vigil in front of the State House in support of medical marijuana. [continues 825 words]
New Jersey's Fiscal Year 2017 budget should prioritize reversing our state's recent expansion of the failed "War on Drugs" and the intentional use of collective violence on drug using populations. Despite talking points of "reclaiming lives from addiction" and "reducing prison populations" the state has endured a 30 percent increase of drug possession arrests in the last few years. The current proposed budget calls for $64 million to expand the Drug Court program, an additional $127 million to increase provider rates for substance use treatment and retrofitting Mid-State Prison as a monolithic treatment center. [continues 597 words]
When it comes to political corruption, serious crime pays in the Ocean County, New Jersey Superior Court. Case in point: Howard Birdsall of Birdsall Services Group, pleaded guilty to corporate misconduct and fraud charges, admitting to making countless illegal political donations to score high-value government contracts. Under the terms of his plea before Judge James Den Uyl, he will get a four year sentence, with likely immediate Intensive Supervision Parole release. Mr. Birdsall might never see a day in prison. [continues 96 words]
I'm not happy Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is dead, but I'm glad we as a nation have the opportunity, if Republicans don't obstruct it, to get a non-Catholic replacement appointed to the bench. In previous columns I mentioned how we (minorities) in New Jersey suffer from having an all-white NJ Supreme Court, and the same is true of the U.S. Supreme Court: Religious freedom suffers wherever we have a lack of religious diversity. The First Amendment prevents government from forbidding free exercise of religion, so government cannot regulate beliefs by foisting them or prohibiting them. Religious worship often entails performing physical acts such as consuming substances (e.g., bread and wine, marijuana, hoasca tea) or abstaining from substances or behaviors. Government could not ban performance of these acts in the context of religious procedure any more than it could ban the beliefs whence these actions originate. [continues 944 words]
I am a retired New Jersey State Trooper with extensive experience working narcotics cases. Bob Percopo, in his Feb. 4 oped "Legalizing drugs makes no sense," called recent drug policy reforms hypocritical. But our prohibitive strategy of the past half-century has done nothing to curb drug abuse while simultaneously making our streets more dangerous. When those who received commutations were behind bars, the drug market didn't slow down in the slightest. People were - - and still are - overdosing. Contrary to Percopo's worries, legalizing marijuana is actually a great option for reducing the burden on the legal system and improving public safety while simultaneously reducing the severity of the opiate crisis. In states where medical marijuana is legal and regulated, opiate overdoses have decreased by 25 percent. [continues 137 words]
Blaney called Jon's right to self-representation at his trial "shortsighted" and said his activism in the fight to have marijuana legalized in New Jersey was "misguided." The term "flat-worlder" is often used in a derogatory sense to mean anyone who holds ridiculously antiquated views. There was a time when authorities and those who thought they knew best ridiculed and chastised people who said the world was a sphere. So flat-worlders are idiots who reject science. But I've come up with a local Jersey word for those who, today in 2016, reject the science, truth, and facts about marijuana and instead believe the superstitions, distortions, government propaganda, and flat-out lies of yesteryear: Blaney. [continues 1411 words]
I'm passing a joint at The Joint and pondering while on pot. Through hazy eyes I watched FoxNews coverage of the armed takeover of a federal building in Oregon, feeling helpless. I've decided to do something about it here in Trenton. I think I'm going to take over the front steps of the Clarkson S. Fisher Federal Building and United States Courthouse located on the next block from The Joint on State Street. Ummm next week or the week after, hum, or when I get off this couch. (In my "Jay and Silent Bob" voice:) Dude... not in solidary with those fools in Oregon, but just the opposite. [continues 1386 words]
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Three of New Jersey's five medical marijuana dispensaries have had their business pages shut down by Facebook, cutting off what advocates call an integral place for customers to learn about which plant strains best treat their illness and where to find discounts. Compassionate Sciences in Bellmawr, Garden State in Woodbridge, and Breakwater Treatment and Wellness in Cranbury had their pages shut down this week. Facebook's advertising policy bans promotion of selling drugs - as well as tobacco and guns - and the medical marijuana pages weren't spared even though they have been legally allowed to operate in New Jersey since 2011. [continues 452 words]
Is the Zonker community inclined to overindulge in the product it champions - namely, marijuana? Seems so. That could explain the yawning gaps in Zonker logic - the apparent burnt spots in the medial temporal lobes from the pothead community's misfiring synapses. The Zonker community takes its name from Zonker Harris, the cannabis-addled character in the Doonesbury comic strip. Talking up marijuana, Zonker's namesakes illogically say that since alcohol is legal, marijuana should be too. Alcohol fuels crime, domestic abuse, deteriorating health, bankruptcy and highway carnage, to name just a few. So, heck, why not legalize marijuana along with it? [continues 1278 words]
Inside New Jersey
