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John Ray Wilson and Jim Miller in New Jersey

Some sad news out of New Jersey today. We have been following the case of multiple sclerosis sufferer John Ray Wilson, who was arrested for a few plants in his back yard in 2008.

Wilson said he did not have insurance and could not afford the MS medication to treat his symptoms. Conventional prescription medication to treat MS symptoms run upwards of $3000/month. He said that he was growing the small amount of marijuana to try and treat his condition.

As New Jersey Legislators hammered out a medical marijuana provision in New Jersey, John Ray Wilson was not allowed to say anything about his illness during his trial, or tell the jurors that he used it medically. He was found guilty and the 38-year-old man was sentenced to five years in prison.

He appealed that decision saying that he was entitled to a personal use defense and that he should have been allowed to tell jurors that he has MS. He also was appealing saying that the five year sentence for the amount of cannabis he had in his possession was excessive.

The court ruled in the state’s favor, saying that they couldn’t find abuse or error of judgement by the trial court. His last line of defense was to take his case to the New Jersey Supreme Court. We now have word that they have declined to hear Mr. Wilson’s case and will let the appeal court decision stand.

Mr. Wilson will spend the next five years in prison. Under current New Jersey state law, multiple sclerosis patients can qualify to use cannabis, even the the program has yet to be in operation.  If he were arrested today, John Ray Wilson would at least get to use a medical defense.

External Links:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/nj_supreme_court_wont_hear_cas.html

You don't want to make my friends angry. They'll sue your whole state. (NORML NJ's Anne Davis with Russ Belville, NORML CON 2008, Berkeley, CA)

(Star-Ledger) TRENTON — Prominent defense attorney William Buckman, well known for the State Police racial profiling case in the 1990s, is prepping a civil lawsuit against the state health department for delaying New Jersey’s medical marijuana program.

Buckman will co-counsel the litigation along with Anne Davis, the director of the New Jersey chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The announcement came today during a noon press conference on the Statehouse steps in Trenton attended by a small group of patients, advocates and leaders of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana in New Jersey. The event was called to commemorate the two-year anniversary of Gov. Jon Corzine’s signing of the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act.

Buckman and Davis are both members of the NORML Legal Committee.

Nope... no drugs here... (photo by victim)

Darren Richardson was pulled over in his 2004 Black BMW 325i for what police said was them witnessing Mr. Richardson nearly cause a traffic accident after he narrowly avoided hitting another car.

New Jersey Police pulled him over, and according to police documents of the encounter, they say that Richardson began arguing with them immediately. Richardson had a record of serving two years in prison on a drug charge and admitted that he just doesn’t trust cops.

The dispute continued between Richardson, two police officers at the scene, and Mr. Richardson’s passenger. In a matter of minutes, both men were in handcuffs while they waited for a K-9 unit to come check out the car since the officer on the scene reported the smell of raw marijuana coming from the vehicle.

...nope... no drugs here, either... (photo by victim)

The dog scratched at the trunk, a warrant was obtained, and the car was impounded. Four days later, a search was conducted on the vehicle, but nothing was found. A second dog was brought in. This time the dog scratched at the dashboard, so another round of searching began. Still unable to find any marijuana, the police called in a trap expert to find out if marijuana was hidden in any secret compartments. Again…nothing was found, but now the car was torn up to the point of not being able to be driven. In the end, the compartment expert said that maybe the car was once used to transport drugs, a claim that Richardson denies.

When Darren Richardson was finally able to pick up his impounded car three weeks later, the instrument panel, and the leather dashboard were gone. His seats were torn up and the gear shift was ripped out. Loose wires were everywhere in the car.

All in all, according the the police reports, three different police agencies were called in to search the car including a detective from the federal drug task force and they spent a full two days tearing the car apart and found absolutely nothing. Not a seed, not a stem, not a roach. Nothing.

...maybe back here in the bumper... nope, no drugs here. Oh, well, have a nice day! (photo by victim)

Police say they offered to pay the damages, but Richardson said he would turn it into his insurance. Geico estimated the damage at $12,636.42, more than was paid to purchase the car, and so it was declared a total loss.

Richardson was initially charged with evidence tampering and resisting arrest, but since there was no actual evidence to tamper with, the charges have been downgraded to “petty disorderly persons offences”. His passenger was charged with making terroristic threats against the police, but that too was downgraded to the same charge. The police have opened an internal investigation into the incident, both men will have to face their charges in municipal court later this month.

External Links:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/in_futile_car_search_for_drugs.html

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We have been covering the Medical Marijuana Law in New Jersey as it was legislated in, only to watch the New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie put the brakes on the entire program to await an approval from the Federal Government. New Jersey passed the most restrictive medical marijuana program yet, giving only those that have the most serious or terminal diseases the right to use marijuana for medical reasons with impunity. On Tuesday, Gov. Christie did an about-face on his stance to restrict the implementation of the law by announcing that he believes the states narrow initiative would not run afoul of federal persecutors, and gave a green light to the program.

Read this article:
New Jersey Governor Decides to Allow the Medical Marijuana Program

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These resolutions require no further committee action, but both must receive full floor votes. If approved, they would not require the governor’s signature and cannot be vetoed. This is why it is imperative that you contact your elected officals and tell them to stand with New Jersey’s patients and call for a floor vote on these resolutions.

In January, State Sen. Nicholas Scutari led a public hearing before the Senate Health Committee to discuss voiding draft rules by the Department of Health and Senior Services that sought to unduly restrict the implementation of the Medical Marijuana Act. You can read NORML’s critique of the draft regulations here. You can also watch video from the hearings here.

Lawmakers, patients, and reform activists take issue with several aspects of the regulations, which they argue violated the intent of New Jersey’s yet-to-be implemented medical marijuana law. These included provisions:

• requiring qualifying patients to establish that their diagnosed condition has proven resistant to all other conventional therapies;
• capping the number of state-licensed medical cannabis producers to no more than two;
• restricting the varieties of marijuana available to patients to six strains, and capping the plant’s THC content at ten percent;
• prohibiting the dissemination of any edible medical cannabis product;
• mandating that doctors who authorize their patients to use marijuana must “make reasonable efforts” at least every three months to wean them off the drug.

You can urge your member of the House and Senate to support these resolutions by entering your zip code below.

For more information contact NORML New Jersey or the Coalition for Medical Marijuana – New Jersey or write to:media@cmmnj.org.

Read this article:
Concurrent Resolutions Introduced in NJ Legislature to Invalidate Restrictive Medical Marijuana Rules