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A standoff between Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and advocates for medical marijuana has ended in a compromise that could put marijuana on the market for seriously ill patients by next summer.
The new regulations, announced Friday, would provide for six growing and distribution sites for medical marijuana in various parts of the state. The governor had wanted to limit the number of growers to two and distribution sites to four.
But among the states that allow it, New Jersey would become the only one to limit the amount of psychotropic chemical permitted in the marijuana.
While the Christie administration had pushed to require qualifying patients to exhaust all other treatments before receiving medical marijuana, the compromise applies that restriction to only three nonfatal conditions: seizures, glaucoma and intractable muscle spasms.
Christie hailed the compromise as "the best way to move forward on a responsible, medically based program that will avoid the significant fraud and criminal diversion that other states have experienced."
Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed New Jersey's medical marijuana law as he was leaving office in January, making New Jersey the 14th state to legalize the treatment. New York and Connecticut have not.
Since then, Christie, who was skeptical of the legalization, has been haggling with lawmakers and advocates over the particulars of how to carry out the law.
Advocates of medical marijuana complained Friday that despite the compromise, the regulations continued to discourage access to the drug: by forbidding home cultivation or delivery, and by requiring doctors to be registered and to take a training course before they could certify patients for treatment.
Ken Wolski, a registered nurse and chief executive officer of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey, complained that doctors also had to "attest that they've provided education for the patients on the lack of scientific consensus for the use of medical marijuana."
"What kind of statement is that?" Wolski said. "The act found legitimate uses for marijuana therapy in a number of specified conditions."
Patients with a number of conditions would have access to 2 ounces a month with a potency of 10 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychotropic chemical. Wolski estimated that 2 ounces would be enough for half of all patients, and he said pharmacies in the Netherlands distributed potencies of 13 percent and 18 percent THC.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: capecodonline.com
Author: NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
Contact: CapeCodTimes.com - Contact Us
Copyright:2010 Cape Cod Media Group
Website:New Jersey closer to sales of marijuana | CapeCodOnline.com
The new regulations, announced Friday, would provide for six growing and distribution sites for medical marijuana in various parts of the state. The governor had wanted to limit the number of growers to two and distribution sites to four.
But among the states that allow it, New Jersey would become the only one to limit the amount of psychotropic chemical permitted in the marijuana.
While the Christie administration had pushed to require qualifying patients to exhaust all other treatments before receiving medical marijuana, the compromise applies that restriction to only three nonfatal conditions: seizures, glaucoma and intractable muscle spasms.
Christie hailed the compromise as "the best way to move forward on a responsible, medically based program that will avoid the significant fraud and criminal diversion that other states have experienced."
Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed New Jersey's medical marijuana law as he was leaving office in January, making New Jersey the 14th state to legalize the treatment. New York and Connecticut have not.
Since then, Christie, who was skeptical of the legalization, has been haggling with lawmakers and advocates over the particulars of how to carry out the law.
Advocates of medical marijuana complained Friday that despite the compromise, the regulations continued to discourage access to the drug: by forbidding home cultivation or delivery, and by requiring doctors to be registered and to take a training course before they could certify patients for treatment.
Ken Wolski, a registered nurse and chief executive officer of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey, complained that doctors also had to "attest that they've provided education for the patients on the lack of scientific consensus for the use of medical marijuana."
"What kind of statement is that?" Wolski said. "The act found legitimate uses for marijuana therapy in a number of specified conditions."
Patients with a number of conditions would have access to 2 ounces a month with a potency of 10 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychotropic chemical. Wolski estimated that 2 ounces would be enough for half of all patients, and he said pharmacies in the Netherlands distributed potencies of 13 percent and 18 percent THC.
NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: capecodonline.com
Author: NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
Contact: CapeCodTimes.com - Contact Us
Copyright:2010 Cape Cod Media Group
Website:New Jersey closer to sales of marijuana | CapeCodOnline.com
