Ken Wolski debates medical marijuana with State Senator Mike Doherty on Joyce Estee's WRNJ Newsline segment in Hacketstown, NJ 3/17/11.
Click here for Radio Interview
The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey
WRNJ Radio Interview with Ken Wolski
About CMM-NJ
Coalition members hold diverse opinions, but we all agree:
Arresting patients is wrong, and it must stop now.
Modern clinical research, centuries of experience and the impassioned personal accounts of thousands of real patients concur: Marijuana can alleviate symptoms of certain serious medical conditions, and it can do so when other drugs fail to help. Doctors should be free to recommend this medicine to promote health, and sick or injured New Jerseyans should be free to use it responsibly. The safety margin for therapeutic marijuana is as wide as it can be - there is no known lethal dose.
New Jersey healthcare professionals dispense potentially lethal drugs every day. We trust them to do so very carefully, and solely to benefit their patients. Common sense and compassion demand that doctors should control non-lethal marijuana medicine for those who truly need it. To make this important change a reality, your voice is needed.
The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act was introduced in the State Senate in January 2005 by Senator Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden). A companion bill in the Assembly was sponsored by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton) and Assemblyman Michael Carroll (R-Morris Township).
The law passed by both houses of the Legislature in December 2009 and was signed January 11, 2010.
Under the current time-line, full implementation is expected in January 2011.
Also, please join our Mailing List and we'll keep you posted on important dates, news and ways you can help support the New Jersey patients and families who need your help. Thank you very much!
Update on Medicinal Marijuana Program
The “New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act" became law in January 2010. It went into effect on October 1, 2010. For a copy of the law, see: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2008/Bills/PL09/307_.PDF
The law removes the state-wide penalties for the possession and use of up to two ounces of marijuana a month when a New Jersey licensed physician recommends it for a patient with one of the qualifying medical conditions. Qualifying medical conditions include cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, etc. The physician must have an on-going responsibility for the patient’s condition. Patients will be issued ID cards in a program run by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS). Patients may designate a caregiver to assist them with obtaining and using the marijuana. The caregiver must also register with DHSS and must undergo a criminal background check. The marijuana will be obtained from Alternative Treatment Centers which will be set up in the north, central and southern parts of the state. The Centers will be tightly regulated by the DHSS and the Department of Law and Public Safety. New Jersey is unique among the 15 medical marijuana states in that only the Garden State prohibits home cultivation of medical marijuana.
Wasting precious time for medicinal marijuana program
Wasting precious time for medicinal marijuana program
Monday, February 28, 2011
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Gov. Christie said, "Every life is precious." Why, then, is he dismissive of the lives of medical marijuana patients in the state? Jennifer L. confronted Gov. Christie at a town hall meeting in Ewing a few months ago. Jennifer explained how she is rapidly losing weight -- literally wasting away -- without reliable access to medical-grade marijuana. It was clear Jennifer could not survive like this. She said she may be dead by the summer without the use of medical marijuana. Yet the governor told Jennifer that he couldn't be concerned about her as an individual when he had an entire state to worry about. Why is her life not precious? It's one thing to have a tough-guy Jersey attitude. It's another thing entirely to be callous to a dying woman.
Jennifer is not alone. The Hospice and Palliative Care Association estimates that there are 30,000 New Jerseyans in hospice, i.e. with medical conditions that will take their lives in less than six months.
