Legalizing Marijuana In New Jersey

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Tim DaGiau has undergone five brain surgeries for epilepsy. After years of trying prescription medicines to stop his seizures, he now controls them with marijuana.

"I continued to have seizures while solely on prescription medications, and despite the surgeries. However, marijuana has completely controlled my seizures," DiGiau said.

DiGiau relocated from the Meadowlands area to Colorado last year for college. An added benefit for him residing in Colorado is that medical marijuana is legal there.

The problem is, he can’t come home. Despite missing his friends and family in New Jersey, he stayed in Colorado during Christmas and Thanksgiving, fearing a sudden detachment from marijuana would lead to more seizures. But DiGiau may be able to return home in the near future if a bill legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes becomes law.

On Feb. 23 at 4:20 p.m., legalized medical marijuana made it one step closer to reality in New Jersey. The New Jersey senate passed S-119, the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. It’s now heading to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, where legislators will further debate the bill. If it makes it through the assembly, Governor Jon Corzine, who has said he would sign it.

In an interview on WNYC public radio in New York, Corzine said he would "absolutely" support the bill. Advocates for medical marijuana, including Ken Wolski, head of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana in New Jersey, believed the senate would be the holdout on the bill, which had been held up in a senate committee for four years. Now that that hurdle is over, Wolski believes it’s only a matter of time before marijuana will be legally grown and possessed for medical purposes in New Jersey.

Another area resident uses medical marijuana for her asthma to open her airways. Instead of burning marijuana to smoke it, she uses a vaporizer to heat the plant to 180 degrees and inhales the mist. Marijuana acts as a broncodilator, opening up her air passages and relaxing her muscles during an attack. "When you’re having an asthma attack, your airways close up. You need a dilator affect to open up your airways," she said.

She has had asthma since the age of 9 and tried every asthma drug legally available. Her doctor recommended marijuana when she was 15 and she has been breathing easier since. "It’s like a miracle. I can’t say it enough," she said. "You need to give yourself every opportunity to feel better if you’re living with a disease."

She has been using marijuana discreetly ever since and is concerned that what she is doing is illegal, but looks forward to the day when she can use her medicine without the constant threat of being arrested she said. For her, that day may come soon.

Who will get it and how

While the possession and use of marijuana remains illegal under federal law, 99 percent of marijuana arrests in the country are made at the state level, according to the bill. The bill would apply to patients who suffer from a "debilitating medical condition," which includes "cancer, glaucoma, positive HIV/AIDS status" or diseases or treatments that cause, "cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures, severe and persistent muscle spasms." The Department of Health and Human Services may add other conditions, according to the bill.

In New Jersey, patients would be permitted to grow and use marijuana. If passed, the bill would allow them to grow up to six plants and possess up to one ounce of usable marijuana.

Patients and their caregivers would be issued an identification card from the state, which would allow them to possess marijuana. In addition, the state would permit "alternative treatment centers" to "produce and dispense marijuana for medical purposes."

Currently, 13 states permit medical marijuana. The model for legalized medical marijuana in New Jersey would look different than other states, such as California, which allow full retail access to marijuana, including vending machines that sell it in health clinics.

Supporters

"Medical marijuana is eventually going to happen in New Jersey. The only question is how soon it’s going to happen," Wolski said.

Wolski, a registered nurse in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for 32 years, has witnessed marijuana’s medicinal value first hand. "Nurses are trained to see what therapies work and what therapies don’t work for patients. I see marijuana working for patients countless times in many clinical situations," he said.

Compared to other states, Wolski believes New Jersey’s bill is restrictive. "It’s a very conservative bill," said Wolski. "No state has a smaller plant limit or a smaller possession amount."

Current legalese

Frederic DiMaria, the chairman of the New Jersey Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), was very pleased with the bill’s passage through the senate. "It’s a tremendous step in the right direction," he said.

As a criminal defense attorney, DiMaria, a Lodi resident, has represented medical marijuana patients in court. He learned of the benefits it can have for the terminally ill after watching his uncle develop cancer 12 years ago. His uncle found a great deal of relief from marijuana and was able to keep his weight up.

NORML is dedicated to reforming marijuana laws in general, for medical purposes as well as recreational purposes. DiMaria dismisses critics who call medical marijuana a way to legalize marijuana for recreational use. "It’s certainly not a concerted effort on our part to get one foot in the door," said DiMaria.

DiMaria subscribes to the libertarian argument that people, sick or healthy, should be allowed to use marijuana. "It’s a little more poignant when sick people are involved," he added. "There is no doubt at this point that people are deriving a benefit from it."

Opponents

Opponents of the bill believe it would permit widespread abuse. There is no standard for a doctor to follow when recommending marijuana and New Jersey, like the rest of the United States, does not allow doctors to prescribe marijuana in a traditional sense.

Data on the amount recommended for use, dangers associated with length of use and how it will react with other medications is scarce. "It should go through the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)," said David Evans, head of the Drug Free Schools Coalition and a lawyer in Pittstown. "We run the risk of harming people."

Evans believes the bill leaves certain aspects open ended, such as provisions allowing the use of marijuana for any medical condition that causes pain, nausea or spasms. Also, Evans feels the plant limit is too high. "Six marijuana plants generate thousands of joints a year," he said. "There’s no reason anyone would need that much."

Evans calls evidence pointing to marijuana’s benefits for chronically ill patients "anecdotal" and believes they should be subjected to scientific or medical review. "The FDA is not perfect, but at least they make decisions based on science," he said. "We should get it out of the realm of politics and into the realm of science."

Evans is not alone in his criticism of the bill. The Medical Society of New Jersey released a statement highlighting its concerns with S-119. Among those were concerns that the bill contradicts federal law, promoting a misconception that marijuana is not dangerous; the high number of alternative treatment centers it would allow without any study on the legitimacy of its use; the lack of research outcomes the bill would create and the bill’s lack of a provision to promote "smoke-free" delivery of the drug.


News Hawk: User: http://www.420magazine.com/
Source: South Bergenite
Author: Corey Klein
Copyright: 2009 South Bergenite
Contact: The People's Newspaper - South Bergenite
Website: Legalizing marijuana in New Jersey - South Bergenite