FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 29, 2010
CONTACT: Tony Newman 646-335-5384 or Roseanne Scotti 609-610-8243
New Jersey Medical Marijuana Law Takes Effect on October 1st
Clock Ticking as Department of Health and Senior Services Has 90 Days to Adopt Regulations for Medical Marijuana Program
Patients, Families and Advocates Urge Department to Meet Deadline
Trenton, NJ— New Jersey’s medical marijuana law, the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, becomes effective this Friday, October 1st. The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services will then have 90 days to adopt regulations to implement the Act. The law passed in January after five years of intense advocacy by patients, families and advocates. The legislation will allow patients suffering from certain debilitating and life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, and multiple sclerosis to use and possess medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation. The bill will also allow for the licensing of Alternative Treatment Centers where qualifying patients could safely access medical marijuana. The program will be administered by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.
Patients, families, and advocates have been eagerly awaiting the public release of the regulations and urging the Department of Health and Senior Services to meet the law’s deadline.
“We would appreciate it if they acted quickly on this because every day that goes by we are suffering without our medicine,” says Diane Rivera Riportella, who suffers from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. “People like myself with Lou Gehrig’s disease, which is taking my life away quickly, we need to have access to medical marijuana now. Without the program being in effect, medical marijuana is difficult and dangerous to get. If it was one of their own family members, a parent or a child, would they take so long to create the regulations?”
Earlier this year, Governor Chris Christie asked for a six-month to one-year delay in implementing the legislation. Ultimately, the legislature passed an amendment which allowed for a three-month extension. Even this delay caused concern among patients, families and advocates.
“There are many seriously ill people in New Jersey waiting for the relief this important program will provide,” said Roseanne Scotti, Director of Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey. “We know the Department of Health and Senior Services has been working on the regulations, and we urge them to move forward as quickly as possible to get this program up and running.”
Don and Gerry McGrath, who have dedicated the last five years of their lives to advocating for the passage of the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, worry that any further delay in adopting regulations would cause untold suffering for patients and families in New Jersey. The McGraths lost their youngest son, Sean, to a rare form of cancer in 2004 when Sean was only 28 years old. The McGraths’ story of how Sean’s doctors recommended medical marijuana and how it reduced his suffering has gained statewide attention.
“The reason we became involved with this issue after Sean’s death was so that no other family would have to go through what we went through,” says Don McGrath. “We had to worry constantly about being arrested or having our son arrested just because we wanted to provide him with the medicine that best relieved his nausea and wasting syndrome. His doctors recommended medical marijuana and it provided Sean with relief and hope.”
Senator Nicholas Scutari, who was the prime sponsor of the legislation in the senate, and worked tirelessly for its passage, says, “The passage of this legislation represents significant progress and I expect the Department of Health and Senior Services to promulgate appropriate and effective regulations within the timeframe laid out in the statute. It is imperative to ensure that the ultimate goal of getting this medicine to the patients who are suffering and need relief is satisfied.”
The Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act is supported by a coalition of organizations including the Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey, the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians, the New Jersey League for Nursing, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, the New Jersey State Nurses Association, the New Jersey chapters of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the New Jersey Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.
This action is part of a larger, national push (read below). Please contact [email protected] for more information.
The Women's Marijuana Movement is coordinating a nationwide Day Of Action on Oct. 5th to increase support for Proposition 19 in California, during which women all over the country will hold press conferences and rallies to spread the message that WOMEN feel cannabis legalization will make their communities safer and a better place to live, and to educate the public about the not-well-known-enough fact that marijuana is far safer than alcohol. We have a page up on our website promoting the event here: http://www.womensmarijuanamovement.org/content/yes-prop-19-day-action-oct-5-1
In California, women will hold their events outside of or near the offices of members of law enforcement who have formally come out against Prop 19, and they will deliver copies of the book "Marijuana Is Safer" to the opponents themselves. You can see the full list of opponents here: http://www.noonproposition19.com/endorsements/district-attorneys
On campuses nationwide, female students will hold events, and/or table, and distribute information about the relative safety of marijuana and talk about why they feel Prop 19 or something similar in their own state would make their communities and campuses a safer place.
And in states other than California, women will be holding press conferences, small rallies, and events to talk about how they support California's attempt to legalize and how something similar in their own state would greatly benefit them.
In all cases, we have prepared the targets for action (in California), materials for distribution, and statements to read to any media who report on the Day Of Action. Minimally, all an organizer or attendee needs to do is invite other supportive women to join them for about an hour (tops) around noon on Oct. 5. Women are welcome and encouraged to bring their children.
This Day Of Action is intended to generate broad media coverage that women support legalization, change the way people think about the misconceived harms of marijuana, and ultimately increase support among women for Prop 19. Polling is showing that while men are supportive of Prop 19, women are split. You can check out our last marijuana-related Day Of Action and tremendous press it generated here: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5559/t/4595/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=3535
Please let me know as early as possible if you're interested in organizing or attending an event for this Day Of Action, or if you have any questions. Additionally, we are open to any ideas you have that you'd like to incorporate into or use for this Day Of Action.
Thank you!
Eva Enns
WMM Coordinator
SAFER Outreach Director
303-861-0033
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Dear friends: As we mentioned last week, the campaign to make the medical use of marijuana legal in the state of Arizona is at a critical juncture. With just five weeks left, they are fighting powerful people in the state who want to keep punishing patients who use the medicine they need. Last week, MPP members and email subscribers like you made it possible for us to provide the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project with support for its operations. Now, we need you to dig deep to help us share a story that will make a victory in November a near certainty. The campaign has produced this 30-second ad featuring Heather Torgerson, a woman whose life was saved when she turned to medical marijuana during agonizing chemotherapy treatments. As Heather says herself in the ad, without medical marijuana she would not be here today, she would be in a grave.
We want everyone in Arizona to hear Heather’s story. With your help, the campaign can put this ad on television when early voting starts next week. Please make a contribution to the campaign to help put this ad on the air. Even a contribution of $5 or $10, if made by a significant portion of this list, could expose hundreds of thousands of people to Heather’s story. If you can’t afford a contribution, please share Heather’s story in other ways – either by forwarding this email (or just the ad itself) to your friends and family in Arizona or by posting the ad on Facebook. You could even include a message in the Facebook post accompanying the video along the lines of, “If you want to help the medical marijuana campaign in Arizona air this ad, please make a contribution of $5 or more at http://stoparrestingpatients.org/home/donate ” Thanks in advance for your support. We cannot win these ballot initiative campaigns without you. Best,
Steve Fox |
Help us meet our mission Raised in ’10:$2,516,708 MPP will be able to tackle all of the projects in our 2010 strategic plan if you help us meet this challenge. |
To contact MPP, please click here or reply to this e-mail. Our mailing address is Marijuana Policy Project, 236 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Suite 400, Washington, D.C. 20002. Any donations you make to MPP may be used for political purposes, such as supporting or opposing candidates for federal office. | |
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