ACTIVISTS DEBATE MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

Legislators are attempting to make New Jersey the 14th state to allow
marijuana to be used for medical purposes. If the New Jersey
Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act becomes law, this will be
accomplished.

Anti-drug advocates, however, are fearful that the law wouldn't be
properly enforced.

The measure, which has been passed by the state Senate but has not
yet come up for a vote in the Assembly, would protect the rights of
patients suffering from debilitating medical conditions to use
marijuana for pain relief. Such conditions would include cancer,
glaucoma, HIV, and chronic diseases. Physicians and caregivers of the
patients who provide the marijuana would also be protected under the
act.

The bill would allow for the patients to not be subject to arrest,
prosecution or penalty in any matter, or denied any right or
privileges provided they have a registry identification card. This
bill would allow for the patient to possess six marijuana plants.

David G. Evans, executive director of the Drug Free Schools
Coalition, said the bill is well intentioned but will have many
unintended negative consequences.

"The marijuana advocates paint a picture of seriously ill elderly
people with conditions such as cancer, AIDS, or glaucoma who want to
use marijuana. But, the reality is different," said Evans.

According to Joe Williams, executive director of the Southwest
Council, Inc., a lot of the drug-use prevention organizations and
agencies aren't in favor of the bill. Organizations such as the
National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the American Cancer Society
are examples of agencies that are against the bill, he said.

Thirteen states have passed similar bills in the past. Since these
states have passed the bill, Williams said there have been cases
where only a small percentage of the individuals using marijuana for
medical purposes there actually had serious problems.

The thirteen states allowing medical marijuana use are Alaska,
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New
Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington State.

Williams also said the legislators have gotten a lot of support
because they have marketed marijuana as a safe substance.

"A lot of the people view the bill as a first step. They want to get
it through and see where it goes from there," said Williams.

He said some people also feel that if marijuana was made more
available to people, then people won't use it as much. Williams said
people also believed the same for cigarettes and alcohol. However, he
said these two instances proved that allowing use of such products
only made problems worse.

Evans said that an analysis of medical marijuana records in
California showed that most of the patients weren't elderly people
with serious problems but instead people between the ages of 17 to
30. Moreover, only 2.05 percent of those using marijuana had serious
problems like cancer, he said, adding a majority of the patients
obtained the medical marijuana for other reasons.

Both Williams and Evans said using marijuana for medical reasons can
cause other problems.

"Marijuana causes short-term memory, confusion and mind-altering side
effects. The effects could be long term," said Williams.

Evans said some of the side effects have been linked to the worsening
of pain, respiratory system damage, cancer, brain damage, immune
system damage, strokes, mental illness, and making AIDS and hepatitis
worse.

"We are a compassionate society but we must do what is best for the
most," said Evans. "Until we know more, we should not take the risk
of causing damage in the name of compassion."