TRENTON - New Jersey is set become the 14th state in the nation to allow medical use of marijuana, under a bill approved yesterday by legislators. Gov. Corzine is expected to sign the bill during his last week in office. The law, which advocates have worked for years to get passed, would go into effect six months later. Last February, the state Senate approved a medical-marijuana bill with bipartisan support. But after critics raised concerns that the bill could allow marijuana to become too readily available, sponsors tightened restrictions. [continues 768 words]
A bill to allow the medicinal use of marijuana for seriously ill patients has been tightened to address concerns the drug could become too widely available. An amended version of the bill that was approved by the Senate in February cleared the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee yesterday by a vote of 8-1, with two abstentions. Next, Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. (D., Camden) will determine whether to post the bill for a floor vote in the Assembly. [continues 598 words]
For years, an unusual coalition of advocates and lawmakers has worked to legalize medical marijuana in New Jersey. Last month, the group won its biggest victory to date when the Senate approved a medical-marijuana bill in a bipartisan vote of 22-16. It was the first time such legislation had made it past the committee stage to a floor vote in Trenton. Supporters of medical marijuana are hopeful the Assembly will follow suit. Gov. Corzine has already said he would "absolutely" sign the bill into law if it reached his desk. [continues 1171 words]
Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said Tuesday he will speed up the testing of suspected drugs after a student was kicked out of her high school for having a substance mistakenly thought to be marijuana. Bizzell conducted an internal investigation in the case of Laura Howard, a Smithfield-Selma High School student who was cleared when a drug test showed that a cigar found in her car contained no illegal substances. Howard was suspended Nov. 15 after a drug-sniffing dog alerted its handlers about the cigar. The high school senior later attended an alternative school until school officials learned of the test results in late February and allowed her to return to Smithfield-Selma this month. [continues 384 words]
SMITHFIELD -- Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell has launched an internal investigation to determine why it took nearly four months to process drug-test results that later exonerated an honors student who had been suspended. Laura Howard, a senior at Smithfield-Selma High School, was suspended Nov. 15 after authorities found a cigar in her car that they believed contained marijuana. She was then sent to the school district's alternative school for the rest of the school year. Last week, however, Howard returned to her school after learning that tests from the Department of Justice in Raleigh on the cigar found no illegal substances. The lab report was dated Jan. 19. [continues 210 words]
Phoenixville Police Had County Help. Residents Had Been Complaining. PHOENIXVILLE -- Twenty-seven people have been charged with selling controlled substances, and arrest warrants have been issued for five more, marking the end of a nine-month undercover drug investigation, authorities said yesterday. The operation, which began in November 1998, resulted in the largest number of arrests for a single drug sting in the borough's history, said Phoenixville Police Chief John M. Kalavik. "This is a nice town, and these people add nothing to it -- absolutely nothing," Kalavik said. [continues 266 words]
