MEDICINAL MARIJUANA GETS A LAST SHOT TODAY

State lawmakers will wrap up the lame-duck session today with a
lengthy to-do list that includes legalizing medical marijuana, giving
tuition breaks to illegal immigrant college students, and allowing
chiropractors to do more than make spinal adjustments.

The 2008-09 legislative session will expire at noon tomorrow, and
with it any measure not passed by both houses.

The Senate and Assembly will take up nearly 100 bills in their
respective houses. Lawmakers predict a marathon session, but they say
it won't rival some from years past.

"That session has run past midnight many times," Assembly Speaker
Joseph Roberts Jr. (D-Camden) said.

Prior to the voting session, people with debilitating diseases will
hold a press conference at the Statehouse with the legislation's
sponsors urging lawmakers to make New Jersey the 14th state to
legalize marijuana for medicinal use.

Opponents are incensed by recent changes to the bill -- which double
the amount of the drug available each month to patients and allow
for-profit organizations to distribute it.

Vivian Booker of Englewood, who has used marijuana to alleviate pain
from multiple sclerosis, will await word of the vote at home. Pain
from the disease, intensified by the frigid weather, has kept her
mostly bedridden recently.

"Boy, would I love to be there," said Booker, 58, who said she
experiences waves of excruciating pain in her hands and legs that
feel like a screwdriver turning into her body. Passage of the bill
would, she said, eliminate her fear of getting arrested or buying
marijuana laced with another drug.

David Evans, executive director of the Drug Free School Coalition,
said the most recent version of the bill (A-804) would open the door
for "pot centers," and compared it with California's law, which has
been criticized for being too lax.

Roseanne Scotti, director of the Drug Policy Alliance of New Jersey,
called the criticism a "groundless accusation by people who just
don't support this ideologically."

Allowing for-profits to operate dispensaries ensures enough of these
sites will exist, she said, adding that running a highly regulated
marijuana site is expensive business.

"This bill is still the most restrictive in the country," Scotti said.

Lawmakers must still reconcile the Senate and Assembly versions of
the legislation -- which also differ over whether patients can grow
their own marijuana -- before sending it to the governor's desk for
his signature.

Both houses also will consider controversial legislation that would
charge illegal immigrants in-state tuition to attend public colleges
and universities.

Immigration rights groups have argued children brought to this
country illegally should not be penalized by having to pay the higher
out-of-state tuition.

Sen. Sandra Cunningham (D-Hudson), a sponsor of the bill (S1036),
said helping these children attend college will benefit the state
because "their success and the prosperity of this state are
inextricably linked."

Opponents have argued the bill would hurt the state's immediate fiscal future.

Assemblyman John DiMaio (R-Warren) said "no one can reasonably argue
that New Jersey is in a strong enough financial position to afford
more giveaways of costly benefits."

Lawmakers additionally will decide whether New Jersey's chiropractors
should be allowed to treat tissue pain, prescribe medical tests, give
nutritional counseling and sell vitamins and supplements.

Steven Clarke, president of the Association of New Jersey
Chiropractors, said it will allow chiropractors "the opportunity to
enhance the way they treat and manage patients."

All licensed chiropractors would be required to complete 30 credits
of annual training, as well 45 credits of nutritional study at an
accredited program if they choose to provide nutritional counseling
under the bill (S565).

Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) is among the
sponsors. But the line of opponents is long, including the New Jersey
Academy of Family Physicians, the Independent Pharmacy Alliance and
the New Jersey Dietetic Association.

"It would be inappropriate and confusing to the public if
chiropractors, who have minimal education and training in nutrition,
and none in medical-nutrition therapy, were permitted to provide
nutritional counseling," said Patricia Davidson, president of the
dietetic association.