HEARING SET ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Funeral Protest Ban Bill Also On Agenda

TRENTON - Legalizing marijuana for medical use, barring funeral
protests, weighing the death penalty and dissecting a dwindling fund
used to help out-of-work New Jerseyans are among varied topics to be
discussed by state lawmakers in the coming week.

The Senate health committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday to
discuss long-proposed but never-heard legislation that would allow
doctors to prescribe medical marijuana for patients with serious
illnesses. Sen. Joseph Vitale, the committee chairman said he expects
senators will only discuss the bill and hear from experts.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union. It lists
cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, wasting syndrome, chronic pain, severe
nausea, seizures and persistent muscle spasms as among conditions
that would be eligible for medical marijuana usage.

The National Academy of Sciences has found marijuana can help
patients with chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and AIDS wasting.

But such legislation is opposed by medical and law enforcement
groups. Terrence Farley, an Ocean County assistant prosecutor,
considers the bill a veiled bid to legalize drugs.

Though 11 states allow medical marijuana, in June 2005 the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled the federal government can prosecute people who
use marijuana no matter what state law says.

With the funeral protests ban, Assemblyman Jack Conners,
D-Burlington, introduced the bill after an anti-gay Kansas church
group began protesting funerals of soldiers killed in combat in Iraq.
The Westboro Baptist Church contends the deaths are God's vengeance
for American homosexuality.

The group hasn't protested in New Jersey but has vowed to visit the state soon.

The Senate Labor Committee led by Sen. Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester,
on Thursday will convene a special hearing on the fund used by the
state to pay unemployment benefits to out-of-work New Jerseyans.

The fund is generated from unemployment taxes paid by employers and
workers, but the state has diverted $4.67 billion from it since 1993
to help pay for treating people without health insurance.

On Friday, a 13-member death penalty study commission created earlier
this year will meet for the first time. The panel is to report on
whether the state death penalty is fairly imposed and whether it
should be changed or abolished.