MARIJUANA FOR PATIENTS REMAINS OFF-LIMITS

Like many people who contend that marijuana eases
pain and appetite loss from serious diseases, Ms.
Booker cheered in January 2010, when New Jersey
legalized its use in cases like hers. But a year
and a half later, there is still no
state-sanctioned marijuana available for
patients, and none being grown, and there is no sign of when there might be.

In the last few months, officials in New Jersey,
as well as several other states, have said that
mixed signals from the Obama administration have
left them unsure whether their medical marijuana
programs could draw federal prosecution of the
people involved, including state employees.

A Justice Department memorandum issued late last
month left unanswered questions, and Gov. Chris
Christie has not said how he will proceed. But
medical marijuana advocates say that in New
Jersey, at least, the state law is stringent
enough not to run afoul of federal policy, and
that the governor's true goal has been to block the program.

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure
that out,=94 said State Senator Nicholas P.
Scutari, a Democrat. =93He's used every tactic he can to delay and deny.
=94

The governor, a Republican, and his aides have
insisted that every delay has been a genuine
attempt to make the program work properly.

In light of the Obama administration's
memorandum, the governor's office is performing
its due diligence to ensure implementation of the
program is not in conflict with federal law and
does not put state employees charged with
directing the program at risk,=94 Kevin Roberts, a
spokesman for Mr. Christie, said.

On Thursday, Mr. Scutari =AD who is a local
prosecutor =AD and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, the
law's primary sponsors, met with the governor=92s legal advisers.

They told us they don't have their minds made up;
that they want our input,=94 Mr. Scutari said.

But for the first time, he said, =93the possibility
of just scrapping the program=94 came up, though
only in passing. Aides to the governor denied
that there was any discussion of abandoning the program.

The state has named six nonprofit organizations
to grow and dispense marijuana. The would-be
growers say that if they were given the go-ahead,
it would take at least four months to get up and running.

A lot of people ask when, how, if we're really
going to open, and we can't tell them anything,=94
said Ida Umanskaya, a director of Greenleaf
Compassion Center, which plans to operate in Montclair.

Another operator, Compassionate Care Centers of
America Foundation, which would be based in New
Brunswick, =93remains cautiously hopeful,=94 said Raj
Mukherji, a spokesman for the group.

Though marijuana remains illegal under federal
law, in 2009 David W. Ogden, the deputy attorney
general at the time, sent a memo to federal
prosecutors across the country saying that they
should not focus =93on individuals who are in clear
and unambiguous compliance with existing state
laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.=94

But the memo came with caveats, stressing the
Justice Department's commitment to prosecute
commercial marijuana growers and traffickers who
feed the illegal market but hide behind =93claims
of compliance with state or local law.=94

In March of this year, federal agents raided
marijuana dispensaries in Montana, and some
states wondered about the extent of Justice
Department tolerance. Including New Jersey, 16
states and the District of Columbia have laws
allowing medical use of marijuana.

Gov. Christine Gregoire of Washington, a
Democrat, vetoed proposed changes to the state's
marijuana program, which she said could expose
state workers to prosecution. Gov. Lincoln Chafee
of Rhode Island, an independent, suspended plans
to license marijuana dispensaries. Arizona sued the federal government.

On June 29, Deputy Attorney General James Cole
sent a memo to prosecutors, citing =93an increase
in the scope of commercial cultivation, sale,
distribution and use of marijuana for purported
medical purposes.=94 The 2009 memo, he wrote, was
never meant to shield operations with =93revenue
projections of millions of dollars based on the
planned cultivation of tens of thousands of
cannabis plants.=94 He said nothing about the legal status of state
employees.

Mr. Christie has not said whether Mr. Cole's memo
allayed his concerns. Jessica Smith, a Justice
Department spokeswoman, declined to discuss New
Jersey, saying, =93We do not speculate on what
action we might or might not take in any situation.=94

Medical marijuana advocates note that as a former
federal prosecutor himself, Mr. Christie is well
aware of that policy, and that the memo suggests
that New Jersey would be in the clear because its
program would involve relatively small, nonprofit operations.

To us the Justice Department memo was good news
for New Jersey,=94 said Meagan Glaser, policy
coordinator at the Drug Policy Alliance.

New Jersey's law was designed to be the strictest
in the country, in reaction to programs in
California and Colorado that were widely seen as
too expansive, and it specified that only six
centers would be licensed. It limited marijuana
to use for a specific list of severe conditions
like cancer, H.I.V. and Lou Gehrig's disease, or
when the patient has less than a year to live.

The Legislature passed the bill despite
opposition by Mr. Christie, then the
governor-elect. Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed it
into law on his last day as governor.

Mr. Christie sought to designate Rutgers
University as the sole grower and hospitals as
the sole dispensers, but the university and the
hospitals declined to take part. The governor
then asked the Legislature to postpone the start of the program, and it did.

Late last year, the Christie administration
proposed regulations limiting the program
further. Some were later dropped, but the rules
that were adopted limit the strength of the
marijuana, prohibit home delivery, ban edible
forms of the drug and require patients to show
that they have exhausted conventional treatments.

The wait has been frustrating to patients like
Sandy Fiola, of Asbury Park, who has multiple
sclerosis and sarcoidosis, an inflammatory
disease. She said no one questioned her right to
take far more dangerous painkillers, like oxycodone, morphine and fentanyl.

Using marijuana lets me cut way back on steroids
and morphine, it works better, and I'm more
lucid,=94 Ms. Fiola, 54, said. =93God, I hope they do
this thing. It's been so long already.=94