MEDICAL MARIJUANA HOPEFUL'S TOP ISSUE

TOMS RIVER -- James Miller concedes he is a "one-trick pony" in his
campaign for the state Senate in the 10th District, keeping a promise
he made to his late wife before she died of multiple sclerosis that he
would try to get the use of marijuana for medical purposes legalized.

"I've seen that minds can change,"

Miller said of his crusade to make it legal for people to ease their
pain by smoking or eating the plant.

Rep. Rob Andrews, D-1st, was an opponent who has seen the light, he
said.

In his wife's case, he said, it helped her deal with her pain, and to
gain flexibility in minutes that used to take hours of working
together to achieve.

"Marijuana was her best medicine, a godsend," he said told the Ocean
County Observer's editorial board.

Efforts to get Sen. Andrew Ciesla, R-10th, to help went nowhere,
Miller said, one of the reasons he is running as a Libertarian against
Ciesla in next week's general election.

His wife, Cheryl, died four years ago, and he said he is keeping the
promise to press for the compassionate use of marijuana.

Bills have been introduced to do just that, but they are not
moving.

"I said if they didn't move I'd run," Miller explained, saying those
who can benefit from marijuana have "nobody sticking up for them.
Somebody's working for them now."

His campaign is a "no-money-raised, no-money-spent affair," and he
does not know or subscribe to the Libertarian Party platform.

If he won, he'd hire Republicans and Democrats for his staff, listen
to their recommendations, and "see where the truth lies," he said.

"I'd do and say what I feel is right," he said.

He expects Ciesla to be re-elected, but said he hopes the incumbent
gets less than 50 percent of the vote.

Other issues Miller cited were the delay in dualizing Route 9, and the
likely cost increases that result; the reform of the state school
funding system; and the lack of a cardiac care center at Community
Medical Center.

He said he was unaware that CMC did not have one until he read about
it in the Observer this week.

While his party wants to get rid of the Pinelands Commission, Miller
said he has not studied that issue and has no position.