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Gov. Chris Christie recently proclaimed that the "war on drugs" isn't working. Yet he continues to wage his own personal and costly battle on marijuana consumers in New Jersey every day.
As a medical marijuana advocate and activist, I have interacted with all levels of his administration: the Department of Health and Senior Services, the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of Consumer Affairs and many others. From my perspective, Christie has fully committed all of his resources to the failed policy of marijuana prohibition.
Christie's much-touted new drug policy is S881, a law that will send nonviolent drug offenders into mandatory addiction treatment instead of prisons. Unfortunately, this law will primarily apply to cannabis consumers, because there are more arrests in New Jersey for marijuana every year than for cocaine, methamphetamine or heroin.
Christie has spent three years with ideological and legal stonewalling of the medical marijuana law. This means medical marijuana users will be vulnerable to his forced rehab plan. This is nothing less than flagrant discrimination, a massive waste of resources.
There is no "detox" for cannabis because it is a nontoxic substance. While individuals can build dependence, it certainly does not require six months to a year of in-patient addiction treatment, with the taxpayers footing the bill.
The governor has exhibited hardcore politicking on medical marijuana law in defiance of the public and the Legislature. Christie has also cornered medical cannabis into the corporate health care system and out of the holistic model employed elsewhere. Politics overtook science at absurd levels when the Christie administration insisted on a 10 percent THC limit for all medical marijuana grown in the Garden State.
The Soviet-style medical cannabis system in New Jersey (again, one that is not even running yet) is a sadistic joke to the patients the law was meant to serve. Those who suffer from MS, AIDS and cancer have been left to the underground market and without any legal protection. Now, patients could be forced into mandatory drug treatment for using medical cannabis.
Despite his recent spin, Christie is a true soldier in the failed war on drugs. The proof is in his promise to veto a marijuana decriminalization bill. A1465 passed the Assembly in June with a 44-30 vote. This would make possession of less than 15 grams of cannabis a civil offense. Fourteen states have taken a similar approach.
Across the country, there has been a trend toward reducing penalties for adults who possess cannabis. Even Mitt Romney's home turf, Massachusetts, decriminalized marijuana in 2008 – -a policy that continues successfully today. But New Jersey will shell out tens of millions of dollars a year to uphold criminal marijuana prohibition.
Taxpayers and the Legislature would rather have the money in their public safety budgets. We could be paying for police officers, firefighters and infrastructure instead of prosecuting low-level marijuana offenders and medical marijuana users.
Christie has always been flirting with national politics, yet he maintains an extreme position on marijuana. This has not been good for New Jersey. If he is given the opportunity to influence national drug policy in the future, it will be an expensive and tragic mistake.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: nj.com
Author: Chris Goldstein
Contact: Contact Us - NJ.com
Website: Gov. Chris Christie still stonewalling on medical pot | NJ.com
As a medical marijuana advocate and activist, I have interacted with all levels of his administration: the Department of Health and Senior Services, the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of Consumer Affairs and many others. From my perspective, Christie has fully committed all of his resources to the failed policy of marijuana prohibition.
Christie's much-touted new drug policy is S881, a law that will send nonviolent drug offenders into mandatory addiction treatment instead of prisons. Unfortunately, this law will primarily apply to cannabis consumers, because there are more arrests in New Jersey for marijuana every year than for cocaine, methamphetamine or heroin.
Christie has spent three years with ideological and legal stonewalling of the medical marijuana law. This means medical marijuana users will be vulnerable to his forced rehab plan. This is nothing less than flagrant discrimination, a massive waste of resources.
There is no "detox" for cannabis because it is a nontoxic substance. While individuals can build dependence, it certainly does not require six months to a year of in-patient addiction treatment, with the taxpayers footing the bill.
The governor has exhibited hardcore politicking on medical marijuana law in defiance of the public and the Legislature. Christie has also cornered medical cannabis into the corporate health care system and out of the holistic model employed elsewhere. Politics overtook science at absurd levels when the Christie administration insisted on a 10 percent THC limit for all medical marijuana grown in the Garden State.
The Soviet-style medical cannabis system in New Jersey (again, one that is not even running yet) is a sadistic joke to the patients the law was meant to serve. Those who suffer from MS, AIDS and cancer have been left to the underground market and without any legal protection. Now, patients could be forced into mandatory drug treatment for using medical cannabis.
Despite his recent spin, Christie is a true soldier in the failed war on drugs. The proof is in his promise to veto a marijuana decriminalization bill. A1465 passed the Assembly in June with a 44-30 vote. This would make possession of less than 15 grams of cannabis a civil offense. Fourteen states have taken a similar approach.
Across the country, there has been a trend toward reducing penalties for adults who possess cannabis. Even Mitt Romney's home turf, Massachusetts, decriminalized marijuana in 2008 – -a policy that continues successfully today. But New Jersey will shell out tens of millions of dollars a year to uphold criminal marijuana prohibition.
Taxpayers and the Legislature would rather have the money in their public safety budgets. We could be paying for police officers, firefighters and infrastructure instead of prosecuting low-level marijuana offenders and medical marijuana users.
Christie has always been flirting with national politics, yet he maintains an extreme position on marijuana. This has not been good for New Jersey. If he is given the opportunity to influence national drug policy in the future, it will be an expensive and tragic mistake.
News Hawk- TruthSeekr420 420 MAGAZINE
Source: nj.com
Author: Chris Goldstein
Contact: Contact Us - NJ.com
Website: Gov. Chris Christie still stonewalling on medical pot | NJ.com
