NEW JERSEY SET TO ALLOW MEDICAL POT

New Jersey's state legislature Monday approved a bill that would
allow chronically and terminally ill patients to smoke marijuana with
their doctors' approval.

Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democrat, has told lawmakers he would sign it
before leaving office next week. A spokesman for the governor
couldn't be reached to comment.

New Jersey would join more than 10 states that give a medical
exception to marijuana use despite federal laws prohibiting the
drug's use. Those states include California, Colorado, Maine and
Michigan. Attorney General Eric Holder said earlier this year that
the federal government wouldn't prosecute people complying with state
medical marijuana laws.

New Jersey's bill allows patients suffering from cancer, AIDS,
multiple sclerosis and other medical conditions to buy up to two
ounces of marijuana each month at state-sanctioned dispensaries. The
state health department would issue dispensary cards to patients with
"debilitating medical conditions," allowing them to use the drug with
doctors' approvals. Those conditions would include chronic pain,
wasting syndrome and terminal illness if a physician determines a
patient has12 months or less to live.

Mr. Corzine's successor, Chris Christie, a Republican and former
federal prosecutor, also has said he supported the bill's intent, but
he has expressed concern about loopholes that he said could result in
the drug being abused. A spokeswoman for Mr. Christie couldn't be
reached to comment.

Such concerns had prompted state lawmakers to revise an earlier
version of the bill. Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, a co-sponsor of the
bill, said it would be the nation's strictest medical-marijuana law,
the Associated Press reported.

In California, the state has largely left interpretation of its
medical-marijuana law to counties, and pot shops have proliferated in
some places. Los Angeles recently launched a crackdown after the
number of dispensaries reached an estimated 1,000, and officials and
residents complained that many were illegal cash businesses that had
little to do with medical care.