New Jersey Likely Next to Legalize Medical Marijuana

(Wall Street Journal) New Jersey is poised to become the next state to allow residents to use marijuana, when recommended by a doctor, for relief from serious diseases and medical conditions.

The state Senate has approved the bill and the state Assembly is expected to follow. The legislation would then head to the governor’s office for his signature.

Gov. Jon Corzine, the Democrat who lost his re-election bid last month, has indicated he would sign the bill if it reaches his desk before he leaves office in January. It would likely be one of Mr. Corzine’s last acts before relinquishing the job to Republican Chris Christie.

Mr. Christie has indicated he would be supportive of such legislation, but had concerns that one draft of a bill he read didn’t have enough restrictions, a spokeswoman said.

Really? The Assembly’s version of the bill doesn’t allow for medical marijuana for chronic pain, as do the other medical marijuana states. It does allow for “positive status for [HIV/AIDS] or cancer that results in severe or chronic pain,” which is much more restrictive wording.

Patients would not be able to designate caregivers and not be able to grow their own medicine; rather, they must pick it up only at “non-profit alternative treatment centers” (dispensaries). That’s much more restrictive than most medical marijuana states that don’t force a patient to make a purchase from someone else.

“Non-profit alternative treatment centers” would only be able to dispense no more than one ounce to a patient in a 30-day period. That’s not just more restrictive than the four states that allow for dispensaries, but more restrictive a possession limit than all thirteen!

Mr. Christie, I know the Senate and Assembly bills have yet to be reconciled, but if you signed the Assembly version, you’d be signing the most restrictive medical marijuana bill in the country!

Some lawmakers oppose the legislation, saying they fear the proliferation of marijuana dispensaries, as in California, where medical marijuana is legal. “It sends a mixed message to our children if you can walk down the street and see pot shops,” said Republican Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini.

So… the Assembly passes a bill that forbids home grows and subsidizes dispensaries?

As the executive director of Prevention First, an antidrug and antiviolence nonprofit, she said she was concerned that the bill would open the door for more liberal drug policies.

“If the drug laws are lax,” she said, “that can open it up to eventual drug legalization.”

I still don’t understand how that works. This is a medical marijuana bill being passed by the elected representatives of the state. Are you telling me that once multiple sclerosis patients are free to puff a doobie without fear of arrest you and a majority of your fellow legislators are going to support letting us all puff a doobie? What is it about the sick people using pot that is going to change your mind about the healthy people using pot? Essentially, aren’t you saying that once some people are allowed to smoke marijuana, most people will recognize that it is really no big deal? By saying medical marijuana is the “camel’s nose under the tent” to legalization, aren’t you saying that the only way you can keep pot illegal is to force healthy people to hide and sick people to suffer?