Michigan passes medical marijuana law; when will New Jersey?
[Courtesy of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc.]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Ken @ (609) 394-2137
Michigan passes medical marijuana law; when will New Jersey?
WHO: Residents of Michigan
WHAT: Passed a medical marijuana law, becoming the 13th state in the U.S. to do so
WHEN: Tuesday, November 4, 2008
WHERE: In the voting booths of the State of Michigan
WHY: To protect seriously ill or injured patients who use marijuana therapeutically with the recommendation of licensed physicians
The Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc., (CMMNJ) congratulates Michigan on becoming the 13th state in the U.S. to remove statewide penalties for the use of medical marijuana. Michigan voters yesterday approved the measure that would protect patients who use marijuana on the recommendation of a licensed physician. CMMNJ Executive Director, Ken Wolski, RN said, “The American people understand the need for this safe, effective and inexpensive therapeutic agent. Nearly 25% of all Americans now live in a medical marijuana state and eventually, medical marijuana will be legal throughout the country. How long will it take New Jersey to approve this? Every day, seriously ill New Jersey patients are either being arrested for using medical marijuana, or are suffering needlessly without it.”
New Jersey residents, unlike those in Michigan, are unable to pass laws through the initiative process, so they must depend on their state legislators for lawmaking. While 86% of New Jersey voters approve of medical marijuana according to the latest poll, New Jersey’s bill has been tied up in legislative committees for nearly four years. The "New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act" (A804 & S119) http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bills/BillView.asp?BillNumber=S119 would allow patients or their caregivers to grow and use a small amount of marijuana when a licensed physician recommends it for chronic pain, nausea, cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, etc. New Jersey patients would be issued state ID cards so law enforcement personnel could easily see they are legal medical marijuana users, as does Michigan’s law.
The American Nurses Association, the American College of Physicians, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of HIV Medicine and many other professional healthcare organizations have endorsed medical marijuana. However, the federal government opposes the medical use of marijuana and so it is not available to patients in pharmacies yet. Michigan residents will have to grow their own marijuana, as patients are allowed to do in the 12 other states that approve its use.
CMMNJ is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to educate the public about the benefits of safe and legal access to marijuana for patients who are under the care of licensed physicians and nurse practitioners. CMMNJ is a 501(c)(3) public charity. For more info, contact:
Ken Wolski, RN, MPA, Executive Director
Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc.
844 Spruce St., Trenton, NJ 08648
609.394.2137 www.cmmnj.org ohamkrw@aol.com
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what is going on with A804 and S119
Comment posted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/20/2008 - 9:39pmI was wondering what the current status on these two bills are? Are the state legislators going to vote on the bill? and if so when?