COMPROMISE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Keep Rules Tight to Minimize Abuses, but Make Sure Patients Will
Actually Use the Program.

Upon further thought, Gov. Chris Christie said Monday he won't allow
for any easing of the proposed restrictions the state Department of
Health and Senior Services has proposed for implementing New Jersey's
medical marijuana law approved almost a year ago.

As we said before in urging the governor and his health commissioner
to reconsider some aspects of the proposed rules, we understand why
it's important to err on the side of caution with medical marijuana.
Of the 13 states that have legalized marijuana for medical use by
people suffering from cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and a few other ailments,
two in particular -- California and Colorado -- have seen things get
way out of hand.

The number of people abusing the "medical use" allowance and simply
getting a prescription to smoke just for recreational use in those
states has exploded, as have the number of "dispensaries" (stores,
really). Also, the number of people growing marijuana illegally has
exploded.

Our governor doesn't want that to happen in New Jersey and he is right
to protect against it happening. New Jersey legislators didn't vote to
decriminalize marijuana last year when they passed the Compassionate
Use Medical Marijuana Act. They voted simply to let those people
legitimately suffering from chronic, severe pain or nausea or vision
problems to have a legal means to use a drug many of them are already
using to relieve those symptoms.

But by having so few distribution centers around the state -- just
four to cover 21 counties; by cutting out certain diseases/ailments
from qualifying for a prescription and by foolishly capping the
percentage of the psychoactive chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)
allowed in medical marijuana distributed in New Jersey at 10 percent
even though the legal, available prescription drug Marinol is 99
percent THC, the administration is torpedoing the law. These rules and
a few others, if put in place as they're written now, will more than
likely lead to most patients in this state who need marijuana to treat
their illnesses continuing to buy the drug illegally.

They'll continue to fuel the illegal drug trade and continue to risk
going to jail because the legal option the state offers is
inconvenient and less effective than the illegal option.

That's foolish.

We would hope it won't have to come to a legislative battle this month
that would pit Democrats in the Senate and Assembly against the
Republican governor.

What we hope is that the governor listens to the legitimate concerns
about the proposed rules raised by the people who depend on marijuana
to ease their suffering and overcome their chronic pain.

We believe that program rules and a distribution system can be created
that ensure both minimal abuse of New Jersey's medical marijuana
program by recreational users and convenient access to prescribed
doses of the drug for patients who certainly don't want to be
lawbreakers; they just want to get through each day free of pain.