NEW MARIJUANA LAW HAILED, BUT CONCERNS STILL REMAIN

For nearly three decades, Elise Segal has worried that police might
arrest her for using marijuana.

The 58-year-old Deptford nurse started smoking the drug in her 20s to
relieve pain and muscle spasms brought on by her multiple sclerosis.

"I was blessed enough to find something to give me quality of life
but the flip side of it . . . if I got caught or not I was breaking
the law," Segal said. "That made me a criminal every day and that was
very hard for me."

Finally, she said, she doesn't have to carry that stigma anymore.

After a five-year legislative battle, New Jersey last week became the
14th state to legalize marijuana for treating certain medical
conditions. Gov. Jon S. Corzine is expected to sign the bill before
leaving office Tuesday.

Medical marijuana advocates say the law isn't ideal because several
provisions were stripped from the Senate version that passed almost a
year ago. But they're optimistic that it could still help thousands
of patients, and perhaps even more if regulations are loosened in the future.

"We're thrilled that there's a good start to providing safe and
effective medicine to the patients who need it," said Ken Wolski, a
nurse and director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana in New Jersey.

That said, the lobbying isn't over yet. The health department now has
six months before the law takes effect to set regulations for the
centers that will grow and distribute the drug.

Opponents promise to push for the strictest possible oversight, while
advocates say they'll fight to ensure that patients can access and
afford the medication they need.

California was the first state to pass a medical marijuana act in
1996. In New Jersey, Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, introduced the
"Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act" in January 2005.

During Senate hearings, doctors and patients argued that the drug has
been shown to reduce pain and nausea for patients suffering from a
variety of medical conditions. In some cases, they said, marijuana
was the only effective alternative to other medications that caused
debilitating side effects.

Critics countered that there wasn't enough proof that marijuana
worked any better than existing federally-approved medications.

The advocates won out. Senators passed the bill last February with
bi-partisan support. But sponsors tightened regulations after
continued outcry from critics who claimed that the bill made
marijuana too accessible and could open the door to legalizing it altogether.

In the last week before the two-year legislative session ended, the
Assembly approved the bill 48-14. The Senate voted 25-13 in favor,
gaining three votes from February. Under the final bill, patients
with HIV/AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy,
Crohn's disease and terminal illness can submit a doctor's
recommendation to petition the state for medical marijuana treatment.

If approved, patients or designated caregivers living in New Jersey
would be able to receive up to two ounces of marijuana every 30 days
from a licensed treatment center. The Department of Health and Senior
Services would issue ID cards to protect them from criminal
prosecution. Caregivers must also register and pay for their own
state and federal background checks.

The marijuana will only be available at "alternative treatment
centers" regulated and monitored by the DHSS and the Department of
Law and Public Safety. To start, there will be six nonprofit centers
- - two each in north, central and south New Jersey. Additional
non-profit or for-profit centers will be added based on demand.

The law makes it clear that health insurance companies are not
required to reimburse costs for medical marijuana, nor are employers
required to accommodate it at work. Patients are also banned from
driving under the influence or using the drug in public areas such as
parks, school grounds, beaches and recreation centers.

Strictest in the Nation

Lawmakers pointed out that their act is stricter than any other in
the nation when comparing the amount of marijuana that patients are
allowed to get or the conditions that qualify for treatment. The law
also prohibits doctors from becoming marijuana specialists.

But supporters wondered if so many controls were added that those who
legitimately need the drug won't be able to get it, or get enough.

Among their biggest gripes was the removal of a provision that
allowed patients to grow six marijuana plants at home. Of all the
other states with medical marijuana policies, New Jersey is the only
one to prohibit home cultivation.

"It was not a problem and you don't hear about it as a problem in any
of the other states," Wolski said.

This prohibition takes the focus away from patients' health and back
to the business of medicine, Wolski said. Instead of being able to
produce the drug themselves "for pennies," he said, patients will
have to travel to centers that might be far away or cost-prohibitive.

Medical marijuana advocates worried that center operators would also
charge inflated prices in order to absorb the cost of following all
the requirements in the law.

"As with any other product, with more regulation the higher the cost
is going to be," said Roseanne Scotti, director of Drug Policy
Alliance New Jersey. "If you're paying for various security apparatus
and background checks and reporting to the state, that's expensive
and gets passed on to the patients."

Wolski noted that some places in California sell marijuana for as
much as $440 an ounce.

Wolski and Scotti said they were also frustrated that thousands of
people who could benefit from the medication won't be able to get it
because "chronic pain" was removed from the definition of qualifying
ailments. That term encompasses some of the most painful conditions
such as degenerative disk disease, fibromyalgia and burns, Wolski
said. He estimated that up to 50,000 New Jersey residents could
benefit from prescription marijuana, but maybe only 10,000 will
actually qualify.

Lawmakers "were more worried that someone, somewhere might abuse this
for some level of pain that wasn't serious enough and they left out a
lot of people who have very serious pain conditions," Scotti said

Wolski also guessed that the two-ounce monthly allotment would only
be enough for about half the patients.

Looking for Answers

Despite the added restrictions, opponents said they believed the new
law would still wreak havoc on local communities.

"It is definitely going to be an issue," said Mitchell Sklar,
executive director of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police.

Sklar said police chiefs in California warned him that medical
marijuana could lead to increases in criminal activity, particualrly
in the areas where it is sold. On top of that, he said, police
officers will have the added burden of distinguishing whether someone
is using marijuana legally or not.

Since state lawmakers saw fit to pass the law, Sklar said, he'll wait
for the state to provide training and direction on how to enforce it.
There are many questions that need answering, he said, like what the
penalty will be for registered users found with more than their share
of marijuana, or those caught with fraudulent medical identification
cards. Police will also need to know what constitutes probable cause
to ask someone if they're using marijuana, he said.

"It's just another layer of bureaucracy," said Naomi Hubbard,
executive director of the Camden County Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse.

Hubbard said she was planning to pay close attention to crime reports
and hospital records to track any negative impacts. Beyond that, she
said, she would focus on educating parents to be aware that their
children might have easier access to marijuana in the near future.

Maybe the new law will at least convince lawmakers to funnel more
funding into prevention programs, said Diane Litterer, executive
director of the NJ Prevention Network.

Litterer said she's sympathetic to patients in pain but didn't think
that legalizing marijuana was worth the message it sent to youth.

"They're hearing on the news that it's medicine and it's okay to take
it," Litterer said. "We have a tough enough job trying to educate our
youth that it's not a good choice to use drugs and alcohol and this
just adds to those difficulties. It's like, 'Oh, it's not so bad.'"

Scotti discounted arguments that the law will encourage illegal drug use.

"Allowing seriously ill people access to marijuana doesn't send any
different message about recreational use of marijuana then allowing
medical access to morphine," she said.

Quelling fears and educating doctors about appropriately prescribing
the drug will take time, Scotti said.

Even after the law takes effect in June, Wolski said patients may
have to wait another three months for the dispensaries to open and
another three to four months after that for the plants to grow -
though centers might be able to import plants in the interim.

On a positive note, he said, that gives New Jersey the chance to be a
model for other states that have been uncomfortable with home-grown
plants or other "lax" components of existing laws.

Until that happens, Wolski said, even state-certified patients will
still face hurdles when it comes to traveling. Four states with
medical marijuana acts have reciprocal agreements: Montana, Michigan,
New Mexico and Rhode Island, according to the National Organization
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML. But otherwise, states
don't have to honor the policies of another state - which means South
Jersey patients who work in Philadelphia will have to leave their
marijuana at home.

Segal said it's still hard to absorb that this is really happening
even though she witnessed the final vote at the statehouse.

"We didn't know whether to clap or not to clap," Segal said. "We
walked out like deer in headlights."