NEW JERSEY MUST PROTECT MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS FROM CONFLICTING
STATE, FEDERAL LAWS

During the medical marijuana stakeholders' meeting at the New Jersey
State Museum auditorium last month, it was openly stated that the
federal government's policy on marijuana was a delusion.

A delusion is a fixed, false belief.

That the federal government's marijuana policy is fixed is quite
clear -- it has not changed in 40 years. Marijuana was determined by
Congress to be a Schedule I drug when it passed the Controlled
Substances Act in 1970. A Schedule I drug has "no accepted medical
uses in the United States," and is "unsafe for use even under medical
supervision." The federal government's position on marijuana is also
demonstrably false.

The presidential Shafer Commission determined, in 1972, after two
years of study, that marijuana was improperly classified as a
Schedule I drug. The federal government did not change its position.
In 1988, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Judge Francis L. Young
found, after two years of expert testimony, that marijuana was
improperly classified as a Schedule I drug and should be rescheduled
so that doctors could prescribe it. The federal government did not
change its position. Since 1996, 14 states and the District of
Columbia have approved laws recognizing accepted medical uses for
marijuana. As a result of these laws, thousands of licensed
physicians have recommended marijuana for hundreds of thousands of
patients who suffer from a wide variety of ailments. Scores of
national and state health-care organizations, such as the American
Nurses Association and the American College of Physicians, have
endorsed medical marijuana. The federal government still considers
every use of marijuana that is permitted by these states and the
District of Columbia to be illegal and punishable by a fine and imprisonment.

There is an entirely new field of medical science emerging with the
discovery of the endocannabinoid system. This is a system of
receptors that exist in every organ of the human body that interacts
with marijuana's molecular components. This system, discovered in the
1980s, gives a scientific explanation for marijuana's ability to
affect such a wide range of symptoms, diseases and medical
conditions. Despite this large and growing body of scientific
evidence of marijuana's accepted medical uses in the U.S., the
federal government refuses to even consider changing its position.

Marijuana is a remarkably safe drug. It is impossible to have a fatal
overdose -- no one has ever died from the effects of marijuana alone.
It is safer than many over-the-counter medicines such as aspirin or
acetaminophen, both of which have caused fatalities. Every day,
physicians prescribe narcotics and amphetamines -- drugs that are far
more dangerous and addictive than marijuana. The DEA's Judge Young
found marijuana to be the "safest therapeutically active substance
known to man." It is insane to think that marijuana is not safe for
use under medical supervision.

The federal government's position on marijuana can only be called a
delusion. It is a fixed, false belief that no amount of logic,
evidence or science can overcome. Generally, delusions hurt only the
deluded one. In this case, countless patients throughout America are
suffering needlessly because of the federal government's cruel,
inhumane and irrational position that marijuana is a Schedule I drug.

State Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Linden, recently introduced a
resolution into the New Jersey Legislature that urges Gov. Chris
Christie to support and advocate for passage of H.R. 2835 (
njsendems.com/Docs/med%20marijuana%20SCR.pdf ), the federal Medical
Marijuana Patient Protection Act. H.R. 2835 will provide important
legal protection for suffering patients, their caretakers and medical
marijuana suppliers in New Jersey and in other states where the use
of medical marijuana is permitted. H.R. 2835 will forbid the federal
government from prohibiting or restricting medical marijuana programs
in any medical marijuana state. H.R. 2835 would also transfer
marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II under the federal Controlled
Substances Act. Schedule II drugs are still strictly controlled by
the state, but they are available in pharmacies by prescription, and
it is much easier to conduct scientific research on them.

"We need to be sure that New Jerseyans who comply with our medical
marijuana law are not at risk of being harassed, arrested or
prosecuted by federal law-enforcement officials," said Sen. Scutari.
The senator was the prime sponsor of the New Jersey Compassionate Use
Medical Marijuana Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Jon Corzine
in January. The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services
is currently writing regulations to implement that law.

By supporting the resolution, legislators and the governor are given
the opportunity to resolve the problems that result from conflicting
federal and state policies toward medical marijuana. They also have
the chance to stand up for our patients by removing the stigma of
federal criminalization of legitimate medical marijuana patients.
They can change a delusional federal policy and restore a measure of
sanity to our nation's drug laws.