N.J. MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATES VOW COURT BATTLE IF LEGALIZATION IS DELAYED

TRENTON -- Legal and medical marijuana advocates say they are gearing
up for a court fight if the Legislature relents and gives Gov. Chris
Christie the potentially year-long delay he wants before making the
drug legally available to chronically ill patients.

The New Jersey chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws is "ready to fight the state of New Jersey," said Anne
Davis, executive director and attorney from Brick. She spoke to a
gathering of about 40 protesters and journalists outside the
Statehouse today. "We will not accept any delay."

The protesters demanded the governor meet the anticipated July
deadline and announce rules outlining how the program will work.

By October, the state Department of Health and Senior Services is
expected to license an initial six alternative treatment centers from
where the drug would be dispensed to registered patients.

But Christie has twice sought a delay in launching the program, most
recently asking for a January 2011 or July 2011 start-up. Health and
Senior Services Commissioner Poonam Alaigh said last week her staff
was still wrestling with the law's many complex challenges, such as
how the plants will be grown and sold, and by whom, and how best to
educate physicians and law enforcement officers. Patients who get a
written recommendation from their treating physician, attesting they
have one of the qualifying illnesses, would be protected from
prosecution if they were found in possession of the drug.

Jim Miller, co-founder of the New Jersey Coalition for Medical
Marijuana, recounted how in 1997 he called for attention to the need
of a medical marijuana law by pushing his wife Cheryl in her
wheelchair from their Toms River home to the Statehouse in Trenton.
When they arrived, she consumed a marijuana-extract she used to ease
her suffering. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she died seven years ago.

"Ya know what I wanted? I wanted an extension -- a six to 12 month
extension. Guess what? I didn't get it. I'd like to tell the governor
sometimes you don't get what you ask for," Miller said. "Patients
can't wait anymore."

The governor's office could not be immediately reached for comment.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), one of the law's sponsors who
participated in the rally, said he was "disappointed" the governor
wanted to delay the law. He offered a compromise, one other states
like Rhode Island used when they passed medical marijuana laws but
made no immediate provision to make it accessible to patients.

"We could allow patients obtain it on their own for now," Gusciora said.

William Buckman, an attorney from Moorestown and president of the New
Jersey Association for Criminal Defense Attorneys, said after the
rally his group was ready to stand with NORML if the law was delayed.
"We are gearing up a for a fight."