STATE SENATE VOTES TODAY ON BILL TO LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

TRENTON - The state Senate is scheduled to vote today on a bill that
would decriminalize marijuana use for some medical purposes in New
Jersey, and one of the bill's sponsors said he was taken aback by
residents' reactions to the proposal.

"I've been pleasantly surprised that the overwhelming response has
been positive," said state Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, who is
sponsoring the measure with Sen. Nicholas Scutiari, D-Union, Somerset
Middlesex.

The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act would require
the state Department of Health and Senior Services to issue
registration cards to patients who have been diagnosed with
debilitating medical conditions. They would then be allowed to keep
six marijuana plants and have an ounce of marijuana in their possession.

It would also create "alternative treatment centers" that would
provide marijuana to registered patients.

Patients would be banned from smoking marijuana in public or while
operating vehicles.

Click here to find out more! Ken Wolski, executive director of the
Coalition for Medicinal Marijuana New Jersey, said the bill was very
conservative because no state that has allowed medicinal marijuana
has smaller plant or possession limits. But he said it still would
benefit people.

But at the same time, the Fraternal Order of Police New Jersey State
Lodge warned the centers could become local problems.

"States with marijuana stores have been burdened with nuisance and
violent crimes associated with them," Edward R. Brannigan, state FOP
president, said in an with the political news site PolitickerNJ.com.
"Marijuana stores in New Jersey will require local police departments
to divert resources to prevent, and respond to, marijuana
store-related crime, costing property taxpayers thousands of dollars
in extra police services."

Whelan said he has heard from a number of people who oppose the
measure, but "it's been a surprise to me but the overwhelming
response has been positive. People recognize this is a bill aimed at
getting pain relief ... This is not for people who have a headache,
but people with diseases like multiple sclerosis and terminally ill
cancer patients, and if medicinal marijuana can bring some relief for
those folks then I'm for it."

But if it passes today, it remains unclear when the measure would be
considered in the Assembly. Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would
sign the bill.

Whelan said he and Scutari have talked with some lawmakers in the
lower house. But that side of the Legislature is up for election in
November, and potentially controversial issues typically are delayed
until after then.

That schedule would give the bill a narrow window to clear both
houses of the Legislature and be signed by the governor by the time
the session ends in early January. If not passed by then, it and all
other incomplete bills must be reintroduced and begin the process anew.

Whelan said he and others have found the issue to be less
controversial than feared, so if it passes on the merits Monday, it
could be considered soon there.

"Given the positive response, frankly, that I've gotten and others
have gotten on this," Whelan said, "I don't see it being much of an
election issue one way or the other."

But he declined to speculate on timing, saying the state's ongoing
economic problems have focused much of lawmakers' attention on those issues.