New Laws For The New Year – Part 1: Medical Marijuana In New Jersey
State lawmakers in New Jersey will likely pass a bill to legalize marijuana for medical purposes, allowing HIV-infected patients to use the drug to relieve pain.
The latest version of the bill (S119) would also allow individuals with cancer, multiple sclerosis, seizure disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and “any other medical condition” approved by the state Health Department to be eligible to receive medical marijuana.
If the legislation passes, New Jersey will become the 14th state in the country to legalize medical marijuana.
Current Democratic Governor Jon Corzine has committed to signing the medical marijuana bill if it reaches his desk, but the Senate and the Assembly have yet to reach a final compromise about certain aspects of the legislation.
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a sponsor of the bill, said the two branches do agree on “95 percent” of the bill’s details. S119 will be reintroduced to the new Legislature if it does not reach Corzine’s desk before he leaves office in January.
During a televised debate on October 1, Republican Governor-elect Chris Christie, who takes office on January 19, pledged he would sign the pending bill only if its “safeguards” were strengthened.
“We don’t want people who have a headache to be able to go and get marijuana,” Christie said. “We want to make sure we don’t turn into California.”
California’s laws have been widely criticized for not setting strict limits on access to the drug. Patients and their caregivers in California may possess and grow marijuana. They are allowed to possess no more than eight ounces at a time.
New Jersey’s proposed law sets stricter limits. The legislation requires that patients pick up the drug, and patients are limited to one ounce of marijuana a month.
The AIDS Beacon’s Part 2 of its New Laws series will focus on an affordable housing protection law for HIV-positive people in New York and mandatory HIV testing for pregnant women in Texas. It will be published shortly.
For more information, please read the news article on NJ.com. For coverage of the televised debate, please visit The New York Times Web site. For more New Laws For The New Year, please see Part 2 of the series about prenatal HIV testing in Texas and affordable housing for HIV patients in New York.
Related Articles:
- New Laws For The New Year – Part 2: Mandatory Prenatal HIV Testing In Texas And Affordable Housing For AIDS Patients In New York
- Beacon NewsFlashes – September 17, 2009
- Beacon NewsFlashes – October 23, 2009
- IAPAC Survey Shows Physicians Have Reservations About Health Care Reform
- AIDS And Adoption – Part 1: Can I Adopt If I Am HIV-Positive?
“We don’t want people who have a headache to be able to go and get marijuana,” Christie said. …
As if cannabis isn’t on every street in the country and very easy to get. No ID and no questions other than “How much?”. You act like cannabis is going away if you have a law against it. Prohibitionists make the craziest statements. The whole point to cannabis legalization is that the legal system can NOT stop cannabis use. 70+ years of prohibition and cannabis is easier to get than it ever has been. You arrest ‘em, jail ‘em, and they come out with a graduate degree in criminality and 150 new contact phone numbers for suppliers. And that’s winning the drug war? No, that’s insane!
How can the gov’t stop a closet grow with a couple of light bulbs? It’s like trying to get people to stop distilling high powered alcohol at home. Didn’t we try that before? And exactly how did that work out? Oh, yeah. It caused the same problems that we have now.
Forget MMJ and legalize for all use using the distribution method similar to alcohol. Cut the drug cartels out of the business.
Stop the DARE scare tactics. My kids came home from a DARE meeting at school and those officers told them the craziest stuff. My eldest said that the cop told her that LSD would make you see purple elephants. Guess what she wants to do… It’s insane to tell a young, impressionable child some of the stuff that she said they told the kids. Heroin speeds you up. One line of cocaine will make your heart explode. Two lines will make your brain freeze up (so, how did you get past the first line?) Kids pick up on these discrepancies. Marijuana stays in your system for 11 years. And the vivid description of the LSD experience made them all want to know more. The kids came out of there WANTING to do drugs. That’s just wrong and only an insane drug warrior would do that to children! I guess the cop was making for more drug warrior work to justify his position once these children are grown. I will never vote to continue the drug war with the drug warriors acting like this.
In terms of harm reduction, I would much rather my children use cannabis instead of alcohol. I’ve never seen anyone die from using cannabis but I’ve seen a whole lot of folks take that alcohol train straight to the graveyard and try to drag everyone they know with ‘em.
If you can’t stop it; Legalize and regulate.
So big daddy says he doesnt want NJ to become like California?
Listen Mr. Christie, you are not our daddy.
Patients need their medicine and do not need your personal opinions on the matter.
Just let them have their medicine if they ask you to.
Again, you are not our daddy.
Thank you very much,
Voytek
**** you Chris. **** you.
SIGN THE BILL ALLREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jersey ain’t gonna see mmj for years, with that fat-ass Christie there to gum up the works. Good job, joisey voters, you put a fat pig anti-safer-than-anything-else-medicine in power. Sucks to be you.
its ok they can restrict the medical marijuana as much as they want and look stupid, they just look the other way when it comes to vicodine percocette codine all those prescription drugs people get hooked on , stupid asses dont realize there is no physical addiction to marijuana and that its better for your pain than those nasty prescription drugs people get from their doctors currently.
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