Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 2010
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Page: A2
Webpage: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126325759617425583.html
Copyright: 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Suzanne Sataline
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

NEW JERSEY SET TO ALLOW MEDICAL POT

New Jersey's state legislature Monday approved a bill that would
allow chronically and terminally ill patients to smoke marijuana with
their doctors' approval.

Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, has told lawmakers he would sign it
before leaving office next week. A spokesman for the governor
couldn't be reached to comment.

New Jersey would join more than 10 states that give a medical
exception to marijuana use despite federal laws prohibiting the
drug's use. Those states include California, Colorado, Maine and
Michigan. Attorney General Eric Holder said earlier this year that
the federal government wouldn't prosecute people complying with state
medical marijuana laws.

New Jersey's bill allows patients suffering from cancer, AIDS,
multiple sclerosis and other medical conditions to buy up to two
ounces of marijuana each month at state-sanctioned dispensaries. The
state health department would issue dispensary cards to patients with
"debilitating medical conditions," allowing them to use the drug with
doctors' approvals. Those conditions would include chronic pain,
wasting syndrome and terminal illness if a physician determines a
patient has12 months or less to live.

Mr. Corzine's successor, Chris Christie, a Republican and former
federal prosecutor, also has said he supported the bill's intent, but
he has expressed concern about loopholes that he said could result in
the drug being abused. A spokeswoman for Mr. Christie couldn't be
reached to comment.

Such concerns had prompted state lawmakers to revise an earlier
version of the bill. Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a co-sponsor of the
bill, said it would be the nation's strictest medical-marijuana law,
the Associated Press reported.

In California, the state has largely left interpretation of its
medical-marijuana law to counties, and pot shops have proliferated in
some places. Los Angeles recently launched a crackdown after the
number of dispensaries reached an estimated 1,000, and officials and
residents complained that many were illegal cash businesses that had
little to do with medical care.
_________________________________________________

Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 2010
Source: New York Times (NY)
Page: A1, Front Page, New York edition
Webpage: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/nyregion/12marijuana.html
Copyright: 2010 The New York Times Company
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: David Kocieniewski
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

NEW JERSEY VOTE BACKS MARIJUANA FOR SEVERELY ILL

Both Houses Pass Bill

TRENTON -- The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure on Monday
that would make the state the 14th in the nation, but one of the few
on the East Coast, to legalize the use of marijuana to help patients
with chronic illnesses.

The measure -- which would allow patients diagnosed with severe
illnesses like cancer, AIDS, Lou Gehrig's disease, muscular dystrophy
and multiple sclerosis to have access to marijuana grown and
distributed through state-monitored dispensaries -- was passed by the
General Assembly and State Senate on the final day of the legislative session.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would sign it into law before leaving
office next Tuesday. Supporters said that within nine months,
patients with a prescription for marijuana from their doctors should
be able to obtain it at one of six locations.

"It's nice to finally see a day when democracy helps heal people,"
said Charles Kwiatkowski, 38, one of dozens of patients who rallied
at the State House before the vote and broke into applause when the
lawmakers approved the measure.

Mr. Kwiatkowski, of Hazlet, N.J., who has multiple sclerosis, said
his doctors have recommended marijuana to treat neuralgia, which
causes him to lose the feeling and the use of his right arm and
shoulders. "The M.S. Society has shown that this drug will help slow
the progression of my disease. Why would I want to use anything else?"

The bill's approval, which comes after years of lobbying by patients'
rights groups and advocates of less restrictive drug laws, was nearly
derailed at the 11th hour as some Democratic lawmakers wavered and
Governor-elect Christopher J. Christie, a Republican, went to the
State House and expressed reservations about it.

In the end, however, it passed by comfortable margins in both houses:
48-14 in the General Assembly and 25-13 in the State Senate.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a Democrat from Princeton who sponsored
the legislation, said New Jersey's would be the most restrictive
medical marijuana law in the nation because it would permit doctors
to prescribe it for only a set list of serious, chronic illnesses.
The law would also forbid patients from growing their own marijuana
and from using it in public, and it would regulate the drug under the
strict conditions used to track the distribution of medically
prescribed opiates like Oxycontin and morphine. Patients would be
limited to two ounces of marijuana per month.

"I truly believe this will become a model for other states because it
balances the compassionate use of medical marijuana while limiting
the number of ailments that a physician can prescribe it for," Mr.
Gusciora said.

Under the bill, the state would help set the cost of the marijuana.
The measure does not require insurance companies to pay for it.

Some educators and law enforcement advocates worked doggedly against
the proposal, saying the law would make marijuana more readily
available and more likely to be abused, and that it would lead to
increased drug use by teenagers.

Opponents often pointed to California's experience as a cautionary
tale, saying that medical marijuana is so loosely regulated there
that its use has essentially been decriminalized. Under California
law, residents can obtain legal marijuana for a list of maladies as
common, and as vaguely defined, as anxiety or chronic pain.

David G. Evans, executive director of the Drug-Free Schools
Coalition, warned that the establishment of for-profit dispensaries
would lead to abuses of the law. "There are going to be pot centers
coming to neighborhoods where people live and are trying to raise
their families," Mr. Evans said.

Keiko Warner, a school counselor in Millville, N. J., cautioned that
students already faced intense peer pressure to experiment with
marijuana, and that the use of medical marijuana would only increase
the likelihood that teenagers would experiment with the drug.

"There are children at age 15, 14 who are using drugs or thinking
about using drugs," she said. "And this is not going to help."

Legislators attempted to ease those fears in the past year by working
with the Department of Health and Senior Services to add restrictions
to the bill.

But with Democrats in retreat after Mr. Corzine's defeat by Mr.
Christie, some supporters feared that the Democratic-controlled
Legislature -- which last week failed to muster the votes to pass a
gay marriage bill -- would balk at approving medical marijuana.

Mr. Christie added to the suspense Monday, just hours before
lawmakers were scheduled to vote, when he was asked about the bill
during a press conference within shouting distance of the legislative
chambers. He said he was concerned that the bill contained loopholes
that might encourage recreational drug use.

"I think we all see what's happened in California," Mr. Christie
said. "It's gotten completely out of control."

But the loophole Mr. Christie cited -- a list of ailments so
unrestricted that it might have allowed patients to seek marijuana to
treat minor or nonexistent ailments -- had already been closed by
legislators. In the end, the bill received Republican as well as
Democratic support.

"This bill will help relieve people's pain," said Senator William
Baroni, a Republican.

Supporters celebrated with hugs and tears.

Scott Ward, 26, who said he suffered from multiple sclerosis, said he
had been prescribed marijuana to alleviate leg cramps so severe that
they often felt "like my muscles are tearing apart." "Now," he said,
"I can do normal things like take a walk and walk the dog."
_______________________________________________

Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 2010
Source: New York Daily News (NY)
Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/1pi8GjuH
Copyright: 2010 Daily News, L.P.
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.nydailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/295
Author: Bill Hutchinson, Daily News Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

NEW JERSEY, OUTGOING GOV. CORZINE EXPECTED TO LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

The Garden State is set to bloom with weed.

Outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine is expected to sign legislation before
leaving office next week making New Jersey the nation's 14th state to
legalize medical marijuana.

Legislators approved a law Monday allowing chronically ill patients to
buy up to 2 ounces of pot a month at state-monitored
dispensaries.

"I don't think we should make criminals out of our very sick and
terminally ill," said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton),
co-sponsor of the bill.

Corzine, who supports the legislation, is expected to sign it into law
before turning over power to incoming Republican Gov. Chris Christie,
a former federal prosecutor who has voiced concerns over the bill.

The law authorizes the state Department of Health to issue patients
with "debilitating medical conditions" like cancer or AIDS the right
to legally possess marijuana.

Unlike other states where medical marijuana is legalized, patients
will not be allowed to grow their own.
________________________________________________

Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 2010
Source: Irish Times, The (Ireland)
Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/Ww92tpbV
Copyright: 2010 The Irish Times
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.irishtimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/214
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

NJ LEGALISES MEDICAL MARIJUANA

New Jersey has approved a bill that would make it the 14th US state to
allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for patients suffering from
cancer and other debilitating diseases.

The legislation passed the State assembly by 48 votes to 6 with one
abstention. The measure already cleared the state Senate, which voted
by 25 to 13 to approve restrictions in the Assembly version, including
a list of ailments for which the drug can be prescribed and a
prohibition on the growing of marijuana by patients.

Marijuana, produced from the cannabis plant, can be smoked or
ingested. Its recreational use is illegal in the US.

New Jersey's bill would allow patients to purchase as much as 50 grams
of marijuana a month. Six state-run dispensaries would be established,
with the Department of Health monitoring the program and recommending
in the future whether to expand access.

"This is a wonderful beginning," said Nancy Fedder (62), of
Hillsborough, who spoke outside the Assembly chamber and said she has
been illegally smoking marijuana for more than a decade to alleviate
pain from multiple sclerosis. "It's something that needed to happen a
long time ago; sometimes I have to go to bed and stay there for days,
and when I smoke marijuana the pain comes right down."
_________________________________________________________

Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 2010
Source: New York Post (NY)
Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/CqKXPzLx
Copyright: 2010 N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc.
Contact: http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/letters/letters_editor.htm
Website: http://www.nypost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/296
Authors: Ed Robinson and Maggie Haberman
Cited: Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey
http://www.drugpolicy.org/about/stateoffices/newjersey/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

NJ 'JOINT' VOTE TO LEGALIZE MEDICAL POT

New Jersey moved to the brink of legalizing medical marijuana last
night when both houses of the state Legislature voted that it's high
time to make the move.

The bill was expected to be signed into law by Gov. Jon Corzine
before his term ends next week and incoming Gov. Chris Christie takes over.

It would let patients with severe and painful diseases, like AIDS,
multiple sclerosis and cancer, buy up to 2 ounces of pot a month.

The weed would be doled out by authorized state suppliers under the
bill, which would make the Garden State the 14th to allow purchase of
pot for medical reasons -- though the home-grown type would still be
outlawed. Driving while high would also still be illegal.

Christie had said he'd support legislation legalizing medical
marijuana as long as the measure is restrictive enough. Other
lawmakers expressed similar concerns.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a bill co-sponsor, says New Jersey's
Compassionate Use Marijuana Act would be the nation's strictest law
of its kind.

But Gusciora, a Democrat, also said the bill was designed to help
suffering patients -- adding that there's no evidence medical
marijuana causes an increase in overall drug use.

"I don't think we should make criminals out of our very sick and
terminally ill," he said.

The legislation allows New Jersey's Department of Health to give
registry ID cards to patients with "debilitating medical conditions."

The cards would allow patients to use marijuana and be immune from
arrest or prosecution.

In order to get the cards, patients must show that they have severe
or chronic pain, or other symptoms such as nausea, seizures, muscle
spasms or wasting syndrome.

The New Jersey Senate, which had earlier passed a less restrictive
bill, voted 25-13 for the final legislation. Earlier, the Assembly
voted 48-14 to pass it.

"I'm in heaven," said Nancy Fedder, a 62-year-old multiple sclerosis
patient from Hillsborough, who says she's used marijuana for years to
deal with her pain.

"It means I am no longer a criminal in the state of New Jersey," she said.

Roseanne Scotti, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey, which
advocates for drug-policy reform, called the passage of the bill, "a
triumph of compassion."

But there was some opposition to the measure. Before the vote,
Republican Assembly member John Rooney asked colleagues to let
Christie, a former US Attorney re-work the bill.

"There are other drugs. There are many ways to relieve pain," Rooney
told the Newark Star Ledger. "The US attorney is an expert in the
area of drug enforcement, let him recommend controls. There are too
many loopholes."
___________________________________________

Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 2010
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Webpage: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/81206607.html
Copyright: 2010 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author: Adrienne Lu, Inquirer Trenton Bureau
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.)

MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL SENT TO CORZINE

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.

The Assembly voted in favor of the bill by 48-14, while the Senate
vote was 25-13.

"I don't think we should make criminals out of our very sick and
terminally ill," said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D., Mercer), a prime
sponsor. "It does not make sense for many of New Jersey's residents to
suffer when there is a viable way to ease their pain."

Gusciora said New Jersey's would be the strictest medical marijuana
law in the nation.

People with "debilitating medical conditions," including severe or
chronic pain, severe nausea or vomiting, cancer or terminal illness,
would be eligible to legally use marijuana, which would be available
through for-profit and nonprofit alternative treatment centers
throughout the state.

Patients would be limited to two ounces of marijuana every 30 days.
Gusciora said the amount was chosen in part because some legislators
objected to higher amounts.

Opponents said the law could be difficult to enforce and could lead to
problems such as more crime.

Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini (R., Monmouth) said the Food and Drug
Administration was better suited than the Legislature to decide which
medicines were safe and effective.

"We are taking the science out of the equation," Angelini said, adding
that the result could be a "lasting negative impact on our children,
communities, and future."

In an emotional news conference yesterday morning before the votes,
about a dozen patients suffering from conditions such as Lou Gehrig's
disease, multiple sclerosis, and muscular dystrophy urged lawmakers to
legalize marijuana for medical uses, saying marijuana gives them
relief that no legal medication - including narcotics such as morphine
- had provided.

Charles Kwiatkowski said he wants to give his 4-year-old piggyback
rides. Michael Oliveri said he moved from New Jersey to California to
have access to medical marijuana legally. Nancy Fedder said she wanted
to be able to take marijuana to ease the symptoms of her multiple
sclerosis without worrying that she or her daughter, who takes care of
her, could wind up facing prosecution.

Several patients at the news conference objected to the maximum amount
allowed by the proposed legislation, saying it would not be enough to
help some patients and should be a matter left to a physician to decide.

Elise Segal, a nurse from Deptford, said marijuana had helped ease the
muscle spasms and nerve pain from her multiple sclerosis.

Other medications, Segal said, impaired her functioning and affected
her behavior, and often made her sick. She said she started taking
marijuana several years after a friend who works as a hospice nurse
suggested it to her.

The marijuana provided instant relief, Segal said, and allowed her to
sleep.

"I have never been so happy in my life," Segal said, her eyes tearing
up shortly after the Senate vote. "It means I will no longer be a
criminal, and I can reach out to my patients and talk about my
experience with multiple sclerosis."

Among those who lobbied against the bill was David G. Evans, executive
director of the Drug Free Schools Coalition, who objected, among other
things, to a change allowing for-profit entities to dispense
marijuana. He also said regulated medical marijuana would be too expensive.

At a news conference yesterday, Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie
reiterated that while he supports the idea of medical use of
marijuana, he would like to see tighter restrictions.

"I still think there are some loopholes in the medical marijuana bill
that don't make me completely comfortable," Christie said. Still, he
added that "conceptually I support the idea of medical marijuana for
seriously ill people for pain relief to them; I think that's the
compassionate thing to do."

He characterized medical marijuana in California as being "completely
out of control." Christie said he would prefer to see a strictly
defined list of diseases for which physicians would be permitted to
prescribe marijuana.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in October that federal
authorities would not arrest or prosecute medical-marijuana users and
suppliers who had complied with state laws, an about-face from the
George W. Bush administration's position.

New Jerseyans strongly support medical marijuana, according to polls.
One poll commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey, which
supports medical marijuana, in 2006 found that 86 percent agreed
"seriously ill patients should have access to marijuana for medical
purposes if a physician recommends it."

A Pennsylvania House committee considered a medical marijuana bill for
the first time last month; the Senate has no plans to consider the
bill even if it passes the House.
______________________________________

_______________________________________________
THS mailing list
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://lists.psalience.org/mailman/listinfo/ths