MOUNT OLIVE PROPONENT OF MEDICAL POT DECRIES DELAYS

MOUNT OLIVE TWP. - Michael Erickson, Jim DeMaio and Assemblyman
Michael Patrick Carroll, R-Morris, are all getting more than a little
impatient.

Erickson, formerly of Budd Lake, DeMaio of Mendham and Carroll are
outspoken advocates of providing marijuana to help ease the pain and
symptoms of a variety of serious illnesses such as cancer,
fibromyalgia, ALS, multiple sclerosis and chronic pain.

But two years have passed since the Compassionate Use Medical
Marijuana Act was approved and not one ill person has been helped.

Erickson, 45, a graduate of Mount Olive High School, said the issue is
more about personal freedom.

"It's more of a freedom of choice issue for me," Erickson
said.

"I don't believe the government has the right to prohibit what
personal choices people make. I have used marijuana for wellness for a
good portion of my life and I'm not a criminal."

Erickson said a friend in East Hanover regularly smokes marijuana to
ease the pain caused by an injury he suffered in a car accident. The
friend has to travel to Irvington and West Orange to buy his marijuana
illegally.

Erickson said that alcohol is far more addictive than marijuana and in
contrast to the positive, medical effects of pot, alcohol abuse is
destructive. He said he was able to begin speaking publicly about
medical marijuana after he changed careers in 2010 from construction
to commercial sales and didn't feel he would be punished for his views.

"I came out of the closet so to speak," Erickson said. "I made a
conscious decision to get involved. We need more people to come out
and more and more are coming out."