MARIJUANA COULD BE FARMERS' NEW CROP

VINELAND -- New Jersey farmers, including some in this area, see a
chance to add an important new crop now that the state has legalized
medical marijuana.

"We would all like to grow it because we think it would be a good
cash crop -- literally," Fairfield nurseryman Roger Ruske said.

The New Jersey Farm Bureau, a trade group for agriculture, has looked
into the issue in depth and found good news and problems with the idea.

New Jersey last month adopted a law allowing medical use of marijuana.

Farm Bureau research associate Ed Wengryn said the legislation isn't
written clearly enough for the state Department of Health and Senior
Services to write regulations. "But I will say there are growers
interested in it -- but they're interested in the concept," Wengryn said.

"(Whether) the economics work in the long run is really going to be
the driving factor, because the price isn't going to be set by market
conditions," he said. "There is no market. You can compare it to
street value, but you can only go so much above street value for people."

There is something else farmers need to consider. They may face stiff
competition from another major industry in the state.

Wengryn said the pharmaceutical industry is in a good position to
bogart the marijuana business if it chooses to try.

Drug firms aren't well known for having green thumbs, but they
actually have research farms that could be converted. They also have
the experienced staff and the money to negotiate their ways through
government bureaucracies.

"They would be competing with farmers," Wengryn said. "I think they
would be in a better position to go through the hoops."

Whoever gets the business, the first harvest isn't likely for a few
years, if only because of the need to research and write regulations.

Alfred W. Murray, assistant agriculture secretary and director of the
state Division of Marketing and Development, fielded a question about
medical marijuana at a Greater Vineland Chamber of Commerce event
here last week.

Murray was part of a four-member panel talking about agriculture and
land conservation issues to a luncheon audience Thursday.

Toward the end of a question-and-answer session, a Chamber member
said some members wondered how the law would be implemented.

Murray joked of a sudden interest among college students to intern at
his department.

The director said the law charges the state health department with
most of the administrative work.

"Our role will be to regulate the plants," Murray said, adding to
laughter, "I don't know how we're going to test it."

Donna Leusner, a department spokeswoman, said research into how to
run the program is in very preliminary stages.

That includes whether the marijuana could be imported.

"No decisions have been made," Leusner stated. "No regulations have
been written. The department is researching how similar programs
operate in other states."

According to Murray, there will be no field growing of marijuana.
Everything would be done in secured greenhouses, he said.

Plus, Wengryn said, no one knows how much legal pot will be needed.

"The medical community is really split on this," he said. "If you
have a chronic disease, this is going to be a way to alleviate. But
for people who have a treatable condition, are doctors going to
prescribe this? I don't think so."

On a related issue, the Farm Bureau has a higher priority for another
crop with a popular pharmaceutical property.

"The one we would like to see permitted is industrial hemp," Wengryn
said. "The industrial hemp is a good industrial product."

The government's problem with hemp is that it can be used as a drug.
The industrial variety is relatively weak as a drug source, though.

"It's a very green and renewable source of strong fiber," Wengryn
said. "That is something we do have a policy on. We would like that
looked into."