MOVED BY PATIENTS, COMMITTEE CLEARS MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Moved by pleas from chronically ill patients, a state Senate commit
tee approved legislation yesterday that would regulate the sale and
use of medical marijuana for people who can show they need the drug
to ease their suffering.

Over the objections of family rights groups and attorneys who warned
the bill sends a conflicting message to youth about illegal drug use,
the majority of members from the Senate Health, Human Services and
Senior Citizens Committee said they felt compelled to approve the bill.

Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer) said he was swayed by the testimony of
Charles Kwiatkowski, a 37-year-old Hazlet resident who said the pain
and muscle spasms from multiple sclerosis prevents him from playing
with his children, ages 3, 8 and 9.

"There is too much pain, too much hurt, and too much suffering, and
we can do something about it," Baroni said.

Kwiatkowski called marijuana "an illegal miracle" that enables him to
"walk better, see better, go fishing with my kids. ... It's not right
there are 13 states I could live in, in less pain."

The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act would benefit
patients suffering from a debilitating disease, defined as cancer,
glaucoma, HIV and AIDS, or chronic illnesses that cause "wasting
syndrome, severe or chronic pain, seizures and severe and persistent
muscle spasms."

Patients would need a written recommendation from their doctor, and
the ultimate signoff from the state Department of Health and Senior
Services, which would issue identification cards stating their
participation. These patients would be free from criminal prosecution
by the state to possess up to six plants and one ounce of usable
marijuana, according to the bill.

The Health Department would also license new entities called
"compassion centers" that would grow and distribute marijuana plants.

"Why can't we have people just purchase the drug through a pharmacy,
like we do with every other drug? There are a lot of checks and
balances in the system we have now," asked Sen. Diane Allen (R-
Burlington), who ultimately abstained from the vote.

Pharmacies could become licensed compassion centers, but are unlikely
to do so because prescribing or carrying the drug violates federal
law, Roseanne Scotti, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance
of New Jersey, a major proponent of the bill.

"Thirteen other states have worked it out through the regulatory
process," Scotti said. "We can do it here in New Jersey." The other
states are Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan,
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Joyce Nalepka, president of the national organization Drug Free Kids:
America's Challenge, urged the committee to consider the ef fects
legalizing medical marijuana would have on children and young adults.

From 1999 to 2008, the National Household Surveys on Drug Use by the
National Institutes of Health found higher than average use of the
drug in the states that legalized medical marijuana, Nalepka said.

"Can it be that declaring -- by popular legislative opinion -- a
dangerous drug to be medicine increases use by making it more ac
ceptable?" she asked the commit tee.

Sen. Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic), a committee member and a bill sponsor,
disagreed that legalizing marijuana for medical purposes would
elevate awareness of the drug among youngsters. "I think our youth
are pretty much aware of marijuana today. I think we are kidding
ourselves if we don't think that."

With the bill (S119) passed by a 6-1 vote with two abstentions, it
awaits a full vote in the 40-member Senate for a vote when Senate
President Richard Codey (D- Essex) decides to post it.

Codey said he would do it soon -- perhaps the next Senate voting
session in January. "I will post it but I will not support it," Codey
said, repeating a position he has stated previously.