FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 23, 2009
CONTACT: Ken @ (609) 394-2137

Tonight Show host Jay Leno mocks Miss New Jersey’s use of medical marijuana

WHO: Tonight Show host Jay Leno
WHAT: Mocked Miss New Jersey’s Medical Marijuana Use
WHEN: October 22, 2009
WHERE: Opening monologue
WHY: Leno’s ignorance of marijuana’s therapeutic value

During his opening monologue last night, Tonight Show host Jay Leno mocked a former Miss New Jersey’s use of medical marijuana to relieve her asthma symptoms. Leno said that “smoking marijuana to cure asthma is like eating (fast food) to cure diarrhea…If she really wants to cure her asthma she should leave New Jersey.” Georgine DiMaria, 24, the 2006 Miss New Jersey said that as a child her asthma was so severe that it left her bedridden, forcing her to be homeschooled. "When you can't breathe, nothing else matters," DiMaria said in the Press of Atlantic City in April 2009. At the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in April 2009, Miss DiMaria eloquently described how marijuana has consistently relieved her asthma symptoms. Miss DiMaria does not smoke the marijuana—she uses a vaporizer and inhales the therapeutic vapors, which are both bronchodilating and anxiety-relieving. Many asthmatics report finding relief from the use of marijuana—even smoked marijuana—and scientific studies support the first-hand experiences of these patients.

“Medical marijuana is not a joke,” said Ken Wolski, RN, from the Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey. “Marijuana is a safe, effective and inexpensive therapeutic agent for a wide variety of diseases, symptoms, and medical conditions. It is an outrage that patients in New Jersey continue to go to jail for trying to relieve their suffering and it is a further outrage that all Mr. Leno can do is make fun of this.”

The "New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act,” which was approved by the New Jersey Senate, awaits a vote in the Assembly. This bill would allow New Jersey patients to use a small amount of marijuana when a licensed physician recommends it, in a program run by the Department of Health and Senior Services. Governor Jon Corzine has said that he would sign the bill into law when it gets to his desk.

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Link: http://www.medicalcannabis.com/OnlineEducation/

PDF: http://medicalcannabis.com/Online%20Education%20UCSF%20PRINT.pdf

Image: http://medicalcannabis.com/medical-education.html

Direct Link: http://www.cecity.com/ce-bin/owa/bel?cc=CECA&aid=14422

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