CMMNJ and NORMLNJ Trenton press conference: "No Delay"
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and DHSS Commissioner Dr. Poonam Alaigh have all kinds of ideas about medical marijuana. Proposed amendments, looking to be passed as last-minute legislation next week, would completely re-invent New Jersey’s medical cannabis program to their design.
Governor Christie’s administration has kept a closed-door on recent discussions to alter The Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. The bill took five years to pass and resulted in the nation’s strictest language for legal therapeutic cannabis use.
Potential patients, advocates and the public have been left out of plans to make changes to the hard-won law. The result is a set of proposals that would effectively doom the program to fail, before it goes into practice.
Once again ill patients could be left with only the underground market for access to cannabis for therapeutic use.
Bits and pieces of the proposed Christie Administration amendments have been reported in the media. First came confirmation of a “90-120” delay to the Philadelphia Weekly, and then the Star-Ledger ran a front page story that New Jersey patients may only be able to access marijuana grown at a single facility: Rutgers University.
The immediate response among advocates is that the implications of a state-authorized monopoly on cannabis production would be negative for patients in all regards.
Initially described as a request for a 6-12 month regulatory delay, the various amendments now seem a chance for Governor Christie to have some significant influence on the medical marijuana program. The law passed just before he took office. His spokeman said he supported it "as written."
Patients and advocacy groups have reached out to the Governor and the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) since January but have not been invited to share their information. Although state officials have offered assurances that they are working on the program, it is unknown what medical cannabis information resources they have utilized.
CMMNJ and NORML-NJ held press conferences in Trenton and in Jersey City appealing for the law to be implemented, as passed. VIDEO
The Drug Policy Alliance - New Jersey Office has organized a fax and email effort.
Until the amendments are officially offered to the Assembly and Senate little sunlight is likely to shine on Christie’s medical marijuana plans.
The Rutgers University notion is far-fetched at best, no matter what local regulations are put into place the institution would face a multi-year legal battle with federal authorities akin to Lyle Craker at the University of Massachusetts.
Still, the overall sentiment of the proposals would indicate a radical move. The newly -tooled program would seek to put the State of New Jersey in direct control over the medical marijuana operation in a way that is unheard of anywhere else.
Governor Christie’s ideas, while faciful, are theoretical concepts. Moving away from non-profit providers and further centralizating, in effect taking complete state control of medicinal cannabis, would be foreign ground for the state's authorities and patients themselves.
The best outcome for patients is for no amendment to be offered at all next week. The law could simply be followed and a safe access program put into place this year. The carefully crafted NJ law already outlines a proven model for the medical marijuana program's success.
Advocates say they remain open to the opportunity to share resources in order to have the program running for ill New Jersey residents as quickly and safely as possible.
The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey and NORML-NJ are planning a strong presence next week in Trenton to follow any ammendments, if they occur.
The amendments are not a sure-thing and must pass floor votes in the Legislature.
More about medical marijuana in New Jersey at www.cmmnj.org
Read the full text of NJ's medical marijuana law http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2008/Bills/PL09/307_.HTM
Commentary by Chris Goldstein, the Philadephia NORML Examiner. Chris is on the Board of Directors at CMMNJ. He may be contacted through media@cmmnj.org
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