New Jersey – the No Garden State – is already America’s most restrictive medical marijuana state for not allowing patients to grow their own medicine. The carefully crafted medical law won’t allow for patients with chronic pain to use cannabis and most patients will have to be virtually on their deathbed to get medical marijuana.
But now, Republican Gov. Christie, who despises the law, and his allies in the Assembly are working to draft regulations for the fledgling program that would make the operation of the program nearly impossible and ineffective for most patients.
(NBC New York) Sen. Scutari is taking particular exception to how the rules deal with the six combination manufacturing and distribution Alternative Treatment Centers that the law calls for (two in North Jersey, two in Central Jersey and two in South Jersey).
Instead, Scutari said he was told two of the centers will be just for growing the marijuana, while the sale of the product will be allowed only in the other four.
Scutari is also worried about proposed restrictions on potency and ingestibility, noting “We wrote the most stringent, conservative law in the country.”
“I hope these rules are not so stringent that they strangle it,” Scutari said, adding “That’s my fear right now.”
Here are some of the regulations being proposed for New Jersey’s program:
- Qualifying conditions: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, terminal cancer, muscular dystrophy, or inflammatory bowel disease, including Crohn’s disease, terminal illness (<12 months to live), positive status for AIDS, HIV or cancer.
- You may also qualify if other treatments don’t work for seizure disorder, including epilepsy; intractable skeletal muscular spasticity; or glaucoma.
- The registration fee for patients is $200 and will be valid for two years.
- Your doctor must have seen you for a year and documented four visits for the debilitating condition and must see the patient for follow-up visits. Because poor folks can easily afford a $200 reg fee + four doctor visits in a year.
- You can only have a maximum of two ounces in any 30 day period.
- You may not share or give away your medicinal marijuana, even to another patient.
- Marijuana should be available in July 2011 (sorry for you folks with terminal diseases and <12 months to live…)
- Caregivers can only take care of one patient and can not have any possession convictions in their past, as determined by a mandatory criminal background check and fingerprinting.
- Only four dispensaries in the whole state, supplied only by two dispensary-growers for the whole state, and you can only shop at the one you designate.
- Your medical marijuana card will have your name, photo, and home address on it. Let’s hope you don’t lose your wallet and some marijuana-stealing home invaders don’t find it.
- A dispensary license costs $20,000, and $2,000 of that is non-refundable if your application is turned down.
- No eating or drinking at a dispensary (WTF?)
- Drug testing for dispensary employees.
- Marijuana available at dispensaries shall have a THC level not to exceed 10 percent.
- An dispensary shall cultivate no more than three strains of medical marijuana.
- Dispensary marijuana cannot be packaged in larger amounts that one quarter ounce.
- Dispensaries have to keep log books of the patients’ self-reported pain every three months.
- Dispensaries can only keep on hand two ounces per patient registered for that dispensary… and must destroy any excess!
- Dispensaries must keep $1,000,000 worth on insurance on any delivery vehicles.
- A dispensary delivery cannot be made on the same day the patient orders the medicine.
- Dispensaries must tell patients not to engage in “extraneous conversations” with the delivery personnel. (Again, WTF?)
- Dispensaries ads must only be black text on white background, no illuminated signs, no t-shirts or other promo items.
- Patients cannot get their medical marijuana delivered if they live within a “Drug Free School Zone” (usually 1,000 feet from a school, or as most of us call it, “anywhere in a city”.)
That’s most of the ridiculous proposals in the 97 pages of draft regulations. This is clearly designed to prevent the medical marijuana program from working at all… just like Gov. Christie wants it.
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[...] 2010, New Jersey passed the first medical marijuana law that did not allow the patient to grow their own low-cost medicine, instead requiring them to pay street prices for cannabis sold through [...]
Honestly the Alabama proposed bill for our next legislative agenda on the Michael Phillips Act is much more suffisticed than the redneck New Jersey worthless trashy bill! Sad coming from a person who lived in the west to see a socially liberal state like NJ to crucify people with medical issues that they canot help. Sad to see such dogged puritanism engaged in the north in such a hostile take over of social liberties and human diggnity. A herb made from the Earth which is healtheri is being denied to sick people. I hope that Alabama passes this to show you guys how it gets done like AZ’s propossal is probably better. Sad totally!
losers,
Peter
Well I have Ulcerative Colitis (IBD), I’m in NY and thought about relocating to NJ if NY didn’t legalize medical marijuana mostly for helping controlling the chronic bleeding and pain, oh and bathroom trips. Forget it.
Here are a couple of areas of concern I have regarding the proposed NJ medical marijuana rules:
Documented involvement of a New Jersey acute care general hospital
in the ATC’s organization
The ATC must have a relationship with a hospital in New Jersey. This is a means to allow the governor’s idea of having hospital distribute MMJ.
The applicant’s past experience in the manufacturing or distribution of
drugs or controlled substances
If a dispensary does not have someone so qualified the ATC does not receive a license to dispense MMJ in New Jersey.
The ATC shall provide two monitors for remote
viewing via telephone lines in state offices.
The State apparently does not trust the security measures put in place by the State itself. Who pays for the phone line monthly cost–I’m sure it’s the ATC.
Promptly transcribe inventories taken by use of an oral recording
device
5. The cannabinoid profile of the medical marijuana contained within the
package, including THC level not to exceed 10 percent;
6. Whether the medical marijuana is of the low, medium, or high strength
strain;
Doesn’t 5 negate 6.
An alternative treatment center—dispensary shall formulate a system for
documenting a patient’s self-assessment of pain and/or primary qualifying symptom
using a pain rating scale.
The ATC needs to establish a pain rating system? Isn’t that the job a the recommending physician?
This confirms, I and my family will be moving to a state that understands the medical use of cannabis and the compassionate distribution. West coast here we come. I guess when New Jersey losses Congressional districts to more progressive states they will eventually get off the dime and move into the 21st Century.
The requirements for not only becoming a MMJ member, but even operating 1 of 4 fucking available dispensaries, unable to hold more than 3 types of strains, no more than 10% THC, is just absolutely ridiculous. Honestly, this law has got to be one of the most insane attempts at creating a medical marijuana “program”.
And of course, no one else but Chris Christie and his Republican pals are the people who completely fucked over NJ’s law. At this point, that law is virtually unworkable, and so restrictive it almost seems better to just completely remove it. I understand that this would affect those that CAN get a card, but once they see and realize all of the rules, not to mention the lack of high quality cannabis or even lack of strains, they’re better off buying on the street.
Regulating the potency of the marijuana is fucking unbelievable. Not only does the law limit who can get a card severely, but the people who do get one and who have been shown to qualify for MMJ over multiple tests and restrictions, and are most likely already on their deathbed, don’t even have anything good to relieve their ailment. It’s called MEDICAL for a reason, it’s a LOT stronger for a certain fucking reason, just like prescriptions aren’t over the counter because they are stronger.
Traditional, narcissistic, arrogant, ignorant fucking asshole Republican Chris Christie. Just do whatever it is you think will get you votes for next election is the only thing you think about. Too bad you and your goons are too stupid to realize that supporting marijuana is smart for a Republican’s view – who wants the government telling them what they can and cannot do with their bodies? Especially if that body is going to be dead in a year or two.
I hope Chris Christie gets burned in hell.
Gov. Christi = another fucking douchebag (douchebag #1 today for me was Bill Maher).
What a bitch asshole he is, can’t even implement law in good faith. Dick.
“Those that are wheel chair bound must perform “wheelies” for a duration of 1 minute continuously.”
Ohhh… That differs somewhat from what I’d been lead to believe: I’d understood they were required to gather together in groups of not less than eleven and not more than thirteen patients, find a suitable clearing in a wood solely by the light of a full moon, find their own kindling and firewood, spark up a fire using either a) a magnifying glass (a torch may be employed for assistance in this case) or b) a two unrefined pieces of flint (only), stoke the fire to a minimum height of three meters, circle the fire in unison for at least twenty minutes while chanting, “God made us all equal and may allow his servants to make generous exception for us in giving us Satan’s medicine to help us realise His Politically Correct Equality” and urinating (minimum 500ml.) around the base of the fire until such time as the fire dies back to the point where they may be lifted from their wheelchairs and thrown over the fire by two strong men to another two strong men, who have been silently waiting in the background, forbidden to otherwise help. The four strong men shall shout, ‘Weeeee!’ while the patient shouts, ‘Jack be nimble, Jack be quick and give me my fucking weed!’ Upon receipt of acceptable video evidence to prove the procedure has been carried out correctly and in accordance with the appropriate law, patients may (and may not) get their cannabis delivered on or before the next full moon by someone with whom fraternisation is strictly forbidden. Passwords and secret handshakes required to receive the raw and smelly drug will be revealed no less than two minutes before the delivery van arrives at the patient’s residence.
Your proposal looks a bit more practical and generally sensible to me.
What an outrage!
New rule: All persons buying MMJ must hop on one foot one hundred times in a row.
Those that are wheel chair bound must perform “wheelies” for a duration of 1 minute continuously.
If the patient fails at either of these tasks, they must restart. NO EXCEPTIONS