POT RULES PUT MANY ON EDGE

Medical-marijuana Backers Call N.J.'s Draft Regulations Too Strict.
The State Says It Just Wants To Be Careful.

The wait for access to medical marijuana has been excruciating for
Jennifer Lande.

Long-untreated Lyme disease paired with genetic complications cause
Lande chronic pain. Her muscles are wasting, and her digestive system
doesn't work properly.

On good days, the 28-year-old Medford woman, who once enjoyed camping
and hiking, walks with a cane. On bad days, she's bedridden.
Marijuana, she said, could ease the suffering and slow her weight loss.

The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services' release this
month of draft rules dictating who will have access to marijuana and
how it is distributed might have been a moment to celebrate.

Instead, Lande plans to attend a Statehouse protest
Monday.

The law that Trenton legislators passed in January already was the
most conservative among the 14 states that have approved distribution
of medical marijuana. It didn't, for example, allow patients to grow
plants in small numbers at home, as other laws do.

But the proposed rules would make the program even stricter, dropping
the number of state-approved distribution centers from a potential six
statewide to four and limiting the drug's potency.

Advocates warn that the limit on the drug strength would drive
patients to the underground market. Some, such as Lande, say there are
so many hoops to jump through that they feel they are being treated as
if "we've already done something wrong."

State officials say their intention is simply to create a controlled
"medical model" that ensures the drug will be available only to those
who qualify under the law.

Susan Walsh, a physician and the deputy health commissioner in charge
of crafting the rules, said she believed her office had created "the
best model in the nation." It has earned the endorsement of the
Medical Society of New Jersey and the New Jersey Hospital
Association.

It also has the backing of Gov. Christie, who said he would not have
signed the medical-marijuana bill had he been governor when it passed
in January.

At a town-hall meeting Tuesday in Ewing, N.J., the former prosecutor
said he didn't want the state's program to "become a joke" like those
in Colorado or California, where, he said, anyone can get a
prescription.

"I won't permit it," he said.

Walsh said tens of thousands of people might eventually enroll in the
program.

To qualify, patients must prove that their recommendation for use
comes from a physician with whom they have a "bona fide," ongoing
relationship - one who has treated them repeatedly or over a full
year's time, or who assumes official responsibility for the patient's
care.

Approved patients may have access to 2 ounces of marijuana a month, in
the form of lozenges, lotions, or dry weed. They can pick up sealed
packages from a not-for-profit dispensary or sign up for home delivery.

Qualifying medical conditions are limited. They include HIV, AIDS,
multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and cancer. Other
conditions - such as glaucoma, epilepsy, seizures, and muscular
spasticity - qualify if the patient has not responded to conventional
treatment.

That stipulation has Lande concerned: Who decides whether, in her
years of treatment, she has exhausted every conventional option?

The drug is to be distributed through four vendors. Two other
facilities would be responsible for growing the marijuana, under the
draft rules.

Each facility may grow three strains of the plant, none containing
more than 10 percent of the chemical tetrahydrocannabinol, known as
THC, which is primarily responsible for marijuana's psychoactive
effects. Plants containing a higher percentage must be destroyed.

Opponents say the limit, plus the fact that patients receive only 2
ounces, is restrictive.

Though the law didn't set a limit, 10 percent - low enough to limit
the euphoric effects - is reasonable, Walsh said. She cited a federal
program that distributes marijuana with lower THC content.

The little-publicized program, administered by the National Institute
on Drug Abuse, has supplied medical marijuana to a very small number
of patients for years. Decades for some, such as Irvin Rosenfeld, 57,
of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

He is a grandfathered participant in the program, which is now
closed.

Rosenfeld, the vice president of a brokerage firm, receives 8 to 9
ounces of marijuana, grown by the University of Mississippi, every 30
days. His pot has a 3.6 percent THC level and is delivered as rolled
cigarettes to his pharmacy.

"As far as I'm concerned, I have the best dealer in the country," he
said, only half-joking.

Rosenfeld, who says he was vehemently antidrug in high school, lobbied
the federal government and threatened a lawsuit before he was
permitted access to the program in 1982. He knew that marijuana
significantly lessened pain from a genetic condition that caused
aggressive growth of bone tumors.

Today, he smokes 10 to 12 cigarettes a day and takes no other pain
medication. He plays softball, works five days a week, and teaches
sailing. Without the drug, he said, he would likely be on disability.

"I have a fantastic, well-rounded life," he said, "all because I have
the right medicine."

There are things in New Jersey's law Rosenfeld doesn't believe make
sense, such as limiting growing to two centers. But "it's a nice
start," he said.

That's a point that Walsh echoes frequently. Her office will provide
annual reviews to the Legislature, and there will be opportunities to
adjust the program according to patient need - though not many in the
first two years.

Critics say the rules are so demanding that a small-business owner
seeking to be one of the four distributors doesn't stand a chance in
the application process, which requires $20,000 to initiate. (All but
$2,000 is refundable if the applicant is denied.)

Under the proposed rules, distributors must have a relationship with
an acute-care hospital, but Walsh said that might be revised.

Other requirements involve insurance, packaging, background checks,
inventory monitoring, and security measures. There is even a ban on
delivery staff's engaging in "extraneous conversation" with those they
serve.

Jason Cogan of Brigantine, N.J., considered applying to become a
vendor. Now, he said, "anybody would be a fool to want the license."

Sen. Nick Scutari (D., Union), who sponsored the original bill, plans
to submit a resolution contending that the rules run counter to the
legislative intent. Most important, he said, there should be six
distribution centers in a state of more than 8.7 million people.

"They're treating medical marijuana like it's radioactive material,"
Scutari said, "and if it gets out - well, believe it or not, people
are getting it anyway."

The sharpest critics believe the state is trying to thwart the program
altogether.

"There's a patient belief that the Christie administration is trying
to set up this program to fail," Anne Davis, executive director of the
state chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws,
told Walsh at last week's public meeting.

Walsh adamantly disputed that idea. A failure would reflect on her
office, she said.

Even some conservative bloggers and columnists - a group that has
praised Christie for his pro-business policies and aggressive
government budget-cutting - have been critical of the rules, saying
they would impede on individual rights established under the
medical-marijuana law.

Walsh acknowledged the frustration felt by many who were eager to see
the program implemented.

"I'm sorry," she said. "We're trying to be careful."

The public may comment on the rules for 60 days starting in November.
Vendors will be selected early next year. Walsh expects centers to
begin distributing marijuana by summer.