NJ Medical Marijuana

N.J. Senate approves medical marijuana bill
Monday, December 15, 2008
TRENTON BUREAU

A Senate committee today cleared a measure that would allow medical use of marijuana in New Jersey.

The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee voted to approve the long-stalled bill by a 6 to 1 margin; two senators abstained.

The bill calls for creating “alternative treatment centers” where people with chronic and terminal diseases would be allowed access to marijuana. Supporters say marijuana is a viable treatment option to alleviate pain in many cases.

“It is the definition of basic human decency that we do whatever we can to ease the pain and suffering of people living with severe chronic and terminal diseases,” said bill sponsor Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union. “When all other avenues of currently-approved pain relief have been exhausted, we need to give doctors the freedom to prescribe medical marijuana to give their patients a measure of comfort and dignity in the face of their debilitating diseases. This bill is about the most humane, compassionate option for those state residents who have nowhere else to turn in managing their illnesses.”

If ultimately approved by the full Legislature and signed by Governor Corzine, New Jersey would be the 14th state to allow medical use of marijuana.

A Senate committee today cleared a measure that would allow medical use of marijuana in New Jersey.

The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee voted to approve the long-stalled bill by a 6 to 1 margin; two senators abstained.

The bill calls for creating “alternative treatment centers” where people with chronic and terminal diseases would be allowed access to marijuana. Supporters say marijuana is a viable treatment option to alleviate pain in many cases.

“It is the definition of basic human decency that we do whatever we can to ease the pain and suffering of people living with severe chronic and terminal diseases,” said bill sponsor Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union. “When all other avenues of currently-approved pain relief have been exhausted, we need to give doctors the freedom to prescribe medical marijuana to give their patients a measure of comfort and dignity in the face of their debilitating diseases. This bill is about the most humane, compassionate option for those state residents who have nowhere else to turn in managing their illnesses.”

If ultimately approved by the full Legislature and signed by Governor Corzine, New Jersey would be the 14th state to allow medical use of marijuana.

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am i dreaming guys?

NO!! Corzine WILL sign it.

woohoo!!

xoox

I listened all morning...

when does the vote of approval by the full Legislature occur?

if this passes and i can get a script, i can come out of retirement !!!!!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOT
i thought we would be the last state to fall, we are quite nazi-esque in jerz.
its def a step in the right direction!

Have you written/emailed/called your politician today? Unless you tell them, how will they know just how much you support MMJ? I'm willing to bet that you already have, Mike! I know you! How about you, Frank?- and the rest of you guys, too!

Flood them with messages!

Make your voice heard!

Remind them who's boss!

Granny

CMMNJ said:

The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee conducted a hearing and then voted favorably on “The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act” S119, on Monday, December 15th in the State House Annex. Six of the senate committee members voted in favor of the bill and only one member voted against the bill. There were two abstentions. Nick Scutari, the original senate sponsor of the bill, argued passionately for its approval. He said there was, “No price we would not pay, no limits we would not go” to protect our loved ones from suffering needlessly. He also quoted the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM) report when he said to those who argued that we should wait for FDA approval of marijuana: “There is little comfort in the promise of a better drug 10 years from now.” Sen. Scutari also noted how the IOM’s recommendation to conduct clinical trials of medical marijuana has been ignored by the federal government.

Many professional healthcare organizations have endorsed medical marijuana and a number of them testified to this at the Senate Health Committee hearing. Dr. Denis Petro explained how he conducted the first American study of marijuana’s beneficial effects for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients that was published in 1981. Testimony was also heard from members of the Drug Policy Alliance and from supporters of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc. (CMMNJ). A representative of Prairie Plant Systems was videoconferenced into the hearing to explain how medical marijuana was grown and distributed in Canada.

CMMNJ applauds the committee’s vote as this represents significant progress in medical marijuana legislation in New Jersey. The bill now goes to the entire Senate for a vote, possibly as early as January, 2009. The bill has yet to be voted on in the Assembly, but Governor Corzine has said that he would sign the bill when it gets to his desk. Thirteen states have laws that protect medical marijuana users and now New Jersey is poised to become the 14th state to protect patients who use marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation.

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As early as January!?!

You know me too well granny!!

GARDEN STATE!!!

Rock on jerzey peeps......rock the fuck on........

Will this be on TV

Its our time Jersey!

i have a feeling it's going to pass, but the restrictions on obtaining a card are going to be really tough. i have mild glaucoma - a high IOP 38+ which vanished after i started smoking more regularly, not abuse, just small amounts. when i went back to the eye doc for a follow up, he said my IOP was better then normal <20. i didn't tell him i was smoking.. didn't want to open that can of worms - he said it must of been an acute case.

yeah, sure. maybe it was, but i'm not going to find out. and not going to be popping eye drops in my eye for it forever.

sometimes i get really bad lower back pain too, down my right leg where it even hurts to stand up.. have to move like a robot for a while. but that issue has been gone for years, until i take an extended break, then i remember!! usually after a week or two, i will move in the wrong direction for just a second..which wouldn't of been a big deal when puffing, but click! a week of pain...

it still holds promise if it passes. later amendments to it later may include more lenient approvals. maybe it can remove some government imposed guilt at least if it goes into effect.

also, i think nj is a pretty hip state! the lawmakers know the deal - they also can figure out the new administration coming in is going to be somewhat more lax then the previous on the mj issue - they don't want to miss the bandwagon on this one.. in the future.. tax on med mj, $$$, etc. money talks.. don't want to be the sucker state with no mj law and not making cash, right?

let's hope they do the right thing, for whatever reason!

xoox

Bigdogg said:

Will this be on TV

Its our time Jersey!

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It was on the channle 2 and 4 news last night

This might be the BEST Christmas present EVER!!! Holy F*cking Sh*t people!!!! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!

New Jersey?!?!.......word?

Much props to the Senate Health Committee on this one.

You can read the "New Jersey Compassionate use Marijuana Act" (12 pages)here
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2008/Bills/A1000/804_I1.PDF

"i have a feeling it's going to pass, but the restrictions on obtaining a card are going to be really tough. "

This is why you need to get your doctors to look at my list (as well as your politicians)! The more of them know about what a beneficial herb cannabis is, the better! The doctors will be the ones who decide which conditions fall under "chronic pain", and must be the ones who call for loosening the rules!

In Canada, most doctors admitted that most of what they knew about cannabis came from their patients! Do you think that US doctors are any better educated comes to MMJ?

Granny

xOOx said:

i have a feeling it's going to pass, but the restrictions on obtaining a card are going to be really tough.

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Here's what the bill states in reference to obtaining a card

Under the bill, the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) would issue registry identification cards containing the cardholder's photograph to qualifying patients and their primary caregivers. The bill defines "qualifying patient" or "patient" as a person who has been diagnosed by a physician with whom the patient has a bona fide physician-patient relationship as having a "debilitating medical condition." "Debilitating medical condition" is defined as: cancer, glaucoma, positive HIV/AIDS status, or the treatment of these conditions; a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition or its treatment that produces cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe or chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures, severe and persistent muscle spasms; and other medical conditions that may administratively be added by the department.

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Also:

DHSS would issue registry identification cards to qualifying patients who submit the following:

- written certification that the person is a qualifying patient ("written certification" is defined as the medical records or a statement signed by a physician with whom the patient has a bona fide physician-patient relationship, stating that in the physician's professional opinion, after completing a full assessment of the patient's medical history and current medical condition in the course of a bona fide physician-patient relationship, the patient has a debilitating medical condition for which recognized drugs or treatments are or would not be effective and the potential benefits of the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the health risks for the patient);

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Sounds like obtaining a card shouldn't be anymore difficult than any other state with MMJ laws. Like Granny says, we have to educate the doctors. I've been discussing my medical use with my doctor for years now, just in case. It's not like he can tell anyone, and once he started looking at it objectively, he agreed that the benefits outweighed the risks.

What I don't understand is the one to one limit placed on the caregivers. I know of several patients who don't know how to grow and don't know anyone who grows. How are these people gonna get there medicine? The Black Market? Let's hope the recent non-ruling by the Supreme Court and the new administration's promise to stop the federal raids means that growing collectives will be allowed to flourish here.

Bake

jersey is a draconian state they should at least decrim

way to grow jersey....make this happen guys

Damn I hope this gets passed and the restrictions on obtaining a card aren't any different than other state.....

let's all keep our fingers crossed for this one

Bake_McBride said:

Here's what the bill states in reference to obtaining a card



Also:



Sounds like obtaining a card shouldn't be anymore difficult than any other state with MMJ laws. Like Granny says, we have to educate the doctors. I've been discussing my medical use with my doctor for years now, just in case. It's not like he can tell anyone, and once he started looking at it objectively, he agreed that the benefits outweighed the risks.

What I don't understand is the one to one limit placed on the caregivers. I know of several patients who don't know how to grow and don't know anyone who grows. How are these people gonna get there medicine? The Black Market? Let's hope the recent non-ruling by the Supreme Court and the new administration's promise to stop the federal raids means that growing collectives will be allowed to flourish here.

Bake

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"The bill calls for creating “alternative treatment centers” where people with chronic and terminal diseases would be allowed access to marijuana."

I'm really happy that they have come up with this. But how do we get them to change 6 plants, 1 oz and only one patient per caregiver. Why shouldn't a caregiver be able to help as many people as they can. I also didn't see anything about dispensaries.

Seems they want it to be as discreet and small as possible, no public view, no compassion centers, well as far as i could tell. Looks like they say if you want it you have to grow it, or you have to find one person to grow it for you.

But what about the people that have the ability to do more for the community. The people that can take care of many plants without jeopardizing the safety of other.
Say people that live in apartments and in close proximity to neighbors. People that live in urban areas, that don't have green thumbs, where safety of others is important too. People living in small studios might not have the room to grow. Maybe shoddy electric by novice growers start a fire. Puts the building at risk. But maybe they could have just gone down the block to a compassion center and bought what they needed for what they needed instead.

Maybe a fellow in a community is respected enough by others in their community. Maybe a number of them ask that said fellow to be their caregiver. Why does that giver of care have to refuse all but one? Why couldn't they all write that person down and give that person a true title of "caregiver" because a true caregiver wouldn't refuse to help the whole. Maybe they have the land and the means to do it proper.

After the caregiver gives the allotments to the patients, they should be able to take the rest to the compassion centers. Then the compassion centers can take care of the people that don't have the access to proper growing conditions or don't need it all that often.

6 plants and 1 Oz of usable marijuana seems off. Since leaves are considered "usable" a paper bag of trim fan leaves could be of question. One mother plant and five for flower you are looking at close to a pound of bud. Then what? You have a year supply. But now you have over 1 ounce. I just see some issues. I say if a patient or caregiver is dedicating the time to make medicine they should be able to exceed the limits set upon them. By doing the best they can at giving effective treatment. I would assume a caregiver would like to have at least six mother plants to use. I think that a caregiver should have access to a quantity of dried usable material of various medical properties for the patients to choose from. You just can't have six plant and one ounce of herb!