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Parents of children seeking medical marijuana celebrated a small victory Monday as the state Assembly signed off on the governor's changes to a bill that would improve access to the drug.
"I'm glad that the three-strain restriction has been lifted," said Jenny Stormes, whose 14-year-old son Jackson suffers from debilitating seizures. "That limitation was making it so that children couldn't get the medication and many adults couldn't get the medication that was appropriate for them, but there's still a lot of changes that need to be made."
Stormes sat on the Assembly floor as members voted to accept Christie's proposed changes. After it passed 69-1-4, Assemblywoman Linda Stender, D-Union, one of the primary sponsors, hugged Stormes. The Senate signed off on the amendments last month, just days after Christie conditionally vetoed the bill. It now heads to the governor again for final approval.
It's unclear how many children these changes would benefit. The state Department of Health and Human Services would say only that 1,200 patients are registered with the medical marijuana program. Citing privacy laws, officials declined to say how many of those patients are minors.
Christie asked lawmakers to remove a paragraph that would have eliminated requirements placed on minors that were not also imposed on adults. In doing that the Republican governor, who is seeking a second term, upheld a requirement that children get the authorization of both a pediatrician and a psychiatrist before being allowed to enroll in the medical marijuana program.
In addition to lifting a rule that allowed dispensaries to carry only three strains of marijuana – something that made it difficult for parents to obtain a less-psychotropic version of the drug – the original bill also aimed to make the drug available in edible forms. Christie's conditional veto makes marijuana pills and tinctures available only to children.
Stormes said her son will be an adult in four years and questioned if he will no longer be able to obtain edible marijuana at that time.
"Can he no longer have access to the medicine that's been helping so long," she asked. "All the others drugs have been proven not to work. What are we going to do? Are we going to make it so he has to go on those ineffective drugs? So the edibles need to be made available to the disabled children who are now adults. Just because they turned 18 doesn't meant the disability went away."
Jackson suffers from Dravet syndrome, a rare but debilitating form of epilepsy. She has seen first-hand how marijuana can reduce his symptoms, because her ex-husband lives in California where Jackson can get edible forms of less-euphoric marijuana, when he visits his father.
"It's helped with his seizures," she said. "He has less seizure frequency, the seizures are less intense and the seizures are less in durations as well – just all over it's better. Educationally he's doing better. He's learning, he is using more speech. He's actually able to attempt a task. He has actually become less behaviorally challenged and he's been able to come off some medications. It's been huge."
Brian Wilson, who confronted Christie at a campaign event in Scotch Plains last month on behalf of his daughter Vivian who also has Dravet just days before the governor issued the conditional veto, couldn't be in Trenton Monday but issued a statement on behalf of his family.
"We are happy that this is finally being signed into law," he said. "Our next focus will be working with Mary E. O'Dowd and the Department of Health to ensure that this law is properly regulated according to the true intent of the law so that Vivian and all of the other patients in New Jersey can finally start getting the type of medicine that they need in the form they need."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: northjersey.com
Author: Melissa Hayes
Contact: About the North Jersey Media Group, Stephen Borg, Jennifer Borg, Malcolm Borg - NorthJersey.com
Website: N.J. Assembly OKs bill with medical pot changes [video] - NorthJersey.com
"I'm glad that the three-strain restriction has been lifted," said Jenny Stormes, whose 14-year-old son Jackson suffers from debilitating seizures. "That limitation was making it so that children couldn't get the medication and many adults couldn't get the medication that was appropriate for them, but there's still a lot of changes that need to be made."
Stormes sat on the Assembly floor as members voted to accept Christie's proposed changes. After it passed 69-1-4, Assemblywoman Linda Stender, D-Union, one of the primary sponsors, hugged Stormes. The Senate signed off on the amendments last month, just days after Christie conditionally vetoed the bill. It now heads to the governor again for final approval.
It's unclear how many children these changes would benefit. The state Department of Health and Human Services would say only that 1,200 patients are registered with the medical marijuana program. Citing privacy laws, officials declined to say how many of those patients are minors.
Christie asked lawmakers to remove a paragraph that would have eliminated requirements placed on minors that were not also imposed on adults. In doing that the Republican governor, who is seeking a second term, upheld a requirement that children get the authorization of both a pediatrician and a psychiatrist before being allowed to enroll in the medical marijuana program.
In addition to lifting a rule that allowed dispensaries to carry only three strains of marijuana – something that made it difficult for parents to obtain a less-psychotropic version of the drug – the original bill also aimed to make the drug available in edible forms. Christie's conditional veto makes marijuana pills and tinctures available only to children.
Stormes said her son will be an adult in four years and questioned if he will no longer be able to obtain edible marijuana at that time.
"Can he no longer have access to the medicine that's been helping so long," she asked. "All the others drugs have been proven not to work. What are we going to do? Are we going to make it so he has to go on those ineffective drugs? So the edibles need to be made available to the disabled children who are now adults. Just because they turned 18 doesn't meant the disability went away."
Jackson suffers from Dravet syndrome, a rare but debilitating form of epilepsy. She has seen first-hand how marijuana can reduce his symptoms, because her ex-husband lives in California where Jackson can get edible forms of less-euphoric marijuana, when he visits his father.
"It's helped with his seizures," she said. "He has less seizure frequency, the seizures are less intense and the seizures are less in durations as well – just all over it's better. Educationally he's doing better. He's learning, he is using more speech. He's actually able to attempt a task. He has actually become less behaviorally challenged and he's been able to come off some medications. It's been huge."
Brian Wilson, who confronted Christie at a campaign event in Scotch Plains last month on behalf of his daughter Vivian who also has Dravet just days before the governor issued the conditional veto, couldn't be in Trenton Monday but issued a statement on behalf of his family.
"We are happy that this is finally being signed into law," he said. "Our next focus will be working with Mary E. O'Dowd and the Department of Health to ensure that this law is properly regulated according to the true intent of the law so that Vivian and all of the other patients in New Jersey can finally start getting the type of medicine that they need in the form they need."
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: northjersey.com
Author: Melissa Hayes
Contact: About the North Jersey Media Group, Stephen Borg, Jennifer Borg, Malcolm Borg - NorthJersey.com
Website: N.J. Assembly OKs bill with medical pot changes [video] - NorthJersey.com
