USE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA RECOMMENDED TO EASE THE PAIN

The mission of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey is to
bring about safe and legal access to marijuana for New Jersey patients
who are under the care of licensed physicians. We believe no one
should suffer needlessly, and no one should go to jail for following
the advice of their doctor.

The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act was introduced
in the Assembly by Reed Gusciora, D-Mercer, as A-933, and in the
Senate by Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, as S-88. This bill would remove
the statewide penalties for possession, use and cultivation of a small
amount of marijuana when it is recommended by a doctor.

New Jersey patients would still be subject to federal laws against
marijuana, but this Compassionate Use Act would protect the vast
majority of legitimate New Jersey medical marijuana users. Gov.
Corzine has said he would sign a medical marijuana bill if it got to
his desk.

Polls consistently show that 80 percent of New Jersey citizens support
access to medical marijuana when it is recommended by a physician.
These polls include an Eagleton poll from 2002 (82 percent), a
Time/CNN poll from 2002 (80 percent) and an AARP poll from 2004 (79
percent).

In 2002, the New Jersey State Nurses Association overwhelmingly passed
a resolution recognizing the safety and efficacy of medical marijuana
and urging the legislators to pass a medical marijuana bill into law.
An estimated 90 percent of New Jersey registered nurses -- more than
90,000 strong -- approve of medical marijuana. In 2003, the American
Nurses Association passed a similar resolution.

Registered nurses -- the most trusted profession in America -- have a
unique perspective in the health care field. They use their own eyes,
ears and hands to assess patients. They are constantly assessing how
patients are responding to therapeutic interventions. Their goals are
to restore health, increase comfort, increase autonomy and prevent
illness.

When nurses see the effectiveness of marijuana, when they see how
marijuana relieves nausea and vomiting, how it relieves pain, how it
relieves anxiety, how it relieves spasticity, how it relieves the
wasting syndrome, and how it does so safely and with manageable side
effects, it is no wonder they overwhelmingly approve of medical marijuana.

Access to medical marijuana is a patients' rights issue. It is the
right of a patient to have access to the best possible treatment
available. Our government has a long history of denying the
fundamental rights of the American people. Denying access to a safe
and effective medication is one more example of this.

The struggle for medical marijuana takes its place alongside the great
struggles for civil liberties that this country has seen. Registered
nurses in New Jersey are asking for public support in this struggle.

Opponents of medical marijuana say children won't understand the
distinction between medical and recreational uses of marijuana. The
medical treatment of patients who are dying of AIDS, cancer and
multiple sclerosis should not be subject to what children understand.
Health care professionals have an ethical obligation to put the needs
of the patient first -- not society's needs.

Anyway, the children do understand. In 1996, California passed the
first Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. In 1997, teenage
marijuana use in California went down. Medical marijuana use is not
glamorous and does not increase teenage marijuana use. Indeed, teens
have all the marijuana they want already. Nearly 50 percent of all
high school kids try marijuana before they graduate. High school kids
say that marijuana is easier to get than cigarettes or alcohol.

It is only legitimate patients who are denied access to marijuana
because of our current laws. People like Roberta, a grandmother who
suffers from a painful condition called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.
She has pain that is so severe that she has made plans for suicide.
She has seen where the opiates take her -- the side effects of the
massive doses that are required are as intolerable to her as the pain
itself. There is no cure. She faces progressive, intractable pain.

She asked if marijuana might help her. It might. Marijuana is very
effective for certain types of pain. Where would she get marijuana,
she asked. Eleven different states and several foreign countries have
laws similar to the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana
Act. But Roberta was not able or willing to leave her home.

Why would our federal government prefer Roberta to commit suicide
rather than engage in a clinical trial of medical marijuana? Roberta
and tens of thousands of other New Jersey patients need immediate
access to medical marijuana. They need the New Jersey Compassionate
Use Medical Marijuana Act to pass into law.