Medical Marijuana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey (CMMNJ)
www.cmmnj.org

CONTACT: Ken Wolski RN 609 391 2137 [email protected] or Chris Goldstein [email protected]

Plan for medical marijuana at hospitals called "pie in the sky"

Last month the New Jersey Legislature delayed medical marijuana access and floated a new concept for the program: Rutgers University could be named as the sole source for all medical cannabis cultivation and the marijuana would be distributed only by hospitals.

The full presentation from the New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals (NJCTH) was reported in the Newark Star-Ledger today.  CMMNJ’s Chris Goldstein spoke via phone Friday with NJCTH President J. Richard Goldstein (no relation). He said that NJCTH was invited for what were described as informational discussions in Trenton and not to draft language for the law, calling the medical marijuana proposal “pie in the sky.” 
NJCTH’s Goldstein explained, “This is not a full plan. This was just an initial conversation with some key players. The Christie Administration just ran with it.”

Governor Chris Christie’s staff and some legislators have been speaking frequently with the media about the proposals. Patients could access marijuana at hospitals, to be sure, and Rutgers University certainly has the capability of farming medical cannabis. But their Boards of Directors and retained attorneys would be hard pressed to take on the one thing that private businesses already do: Risk.

New Jersey hospitals and Rutgers University have not fully examined their federal liabilities.  None of those entities have committed themselves to putting their assets on the line for sick and dying patients. They are not alone; not a single hospital or university in the US currently engages in the production or distribution of state regulated medical marijuana.*  Thirteen states have medical marijuana programs running where private non-profit or for-profit business owners take on the tremendous risk presented by ongoing federal prohibition. Any one of several authorities could seize their properties and assets at any given moment. The owners and employees of medical cannabis businesses also take on the risk of personally losing their freedom through federal arrest.

There do exist groups of private citizens ready to get New Jersey ’s program running.  New Jersey’s medical cannabis patient advocacy groups and others groups interested in offering information about the medical marijuana program have not been afforded the same opportunities to meet with “key players” that Rutgers the NJCTH have enjoyed.  Form letters sent from the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services claimed that state officials were considering no proposals from any group.

The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act currently calls for the initial licensing of six, private Alternative Treatment Centers (ATCs) around the state.  Patients can only gain legal protections by purchasing marijuana from an authorized ATC.  The NJ Department of Health and Senior Services is currently scheduled to begin the regulatory process in October and bring the medical cannabis program online starting in January 2011.
 
The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey is intensifying efforts to educate the public and legislators about the ways to best serve the patients who qualify under the law.  Ken Wolski RN, executive director of CMMNJ, said, "The proposal to monopolize New Jersey's medical marijuana program to provide a funding source for training new doctors in the state represents a betrayal of the very patients that the law was designed to protect and serve."

A cannabinoid researcher from Temple University will address the CMMNJ monthly public meeting which will be held on July 13, 2010 at the Lawrence Township (Mercer Co.) Public Library from 7 - 9 pm.

* The University of Mississippi hosts the only DEA licensed marijuana cultivation facility. The single strain of cannabis is distributed to four federal medical marijuana patients. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) also oversees the federal marijuana. It is used for research on a very limited basis.

 

Ken Wolski, RN, MPA
Executive Director
Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc.  www.cmmnj.org
219 Woodside Ave.
Trenton, NJ 08618
609.394.2137
[email protected]

CONTACT: Ken Wolski RN 609 391 2137 [email protected] or Chris Goldstein [email protected]

 

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MEDIA ADVISORY

JUNE 28, 2010

Montel Williams to NY Legislators: Pass Medical Marijuana Now

Former Talk Show Host, MS Patient Will Urge Lawmakers in Albany Tuesday to Pass Medical Marijuana Bill Without Delay

CONTACT: Vince Marrone ……… 914-912-0526 or [email protected]

ALBANY, NEW YORK — At a press conference in Albany on Tuesday, former talk show host, U.S. veteran and New York resident Montel Williams will urge New York Governor David Paterson and members of the state legislature to act quickly in order to finally pass New York’s medical marijuana bill, which would create one of the best regulated systems in the country for providing seriously ill patients with safe and effective access to medical marijuana, if they receive a recommendation from their doctor. Williams suffers from multiple sclerosis, and uses medical marijuana to help ease the effects of his condition.

WHAT: Press conference with Montel Williams

WHEN: Tuesday, June 29. 11:30 a.m.

WHERE: Common area outside Senate Lobby, near the stairs, 3^rd floor of the Capitol

         Since 1996, 14 states and the District of Columbia have passed medical marijuana laws. More than a dozen state legislatures considered the issue this year, and in November, citizens of Arizona and South Dakota will vote on medical marijuana ballot initiatives. Under New York’s bill, the state department of health would play an active role in regulating pharmacies and dispensaries that would be licensed to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                 

JUNE 7, 2010

Colorado Gives Marijuana Dispensaries Legal Status

Governor Signs Regulations for State’s Medical Marijuana Industry

CONTACT: Mike Meno, MPP director of communications …………… 202-905-2030 or [email protected]

DENVER, COLORADO —Today, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter (D) signed legislation that will regulate the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries through a system of local and state licenses, but still allow individual localities to ban dispensaries. Currently there are an estimated 1,100 medical marijuana dispensaries throughout Colorado — the most in any state other than California, which does not have statewide dispensary regulations. Colorado officials estimate that about half of current dispensaries will be able to comply with new regulations.

         “By approving a statewide system of dispensaries through which patients can safely acquire marijuana, Colorado is taking a significant amount of revenue away from the dangerous, illicit, and unsanctioned market created by prohibition,” said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project. “Instead, patients will now be able to obtain marijuana from a sensible and orderly system of law-abiding and regulated providers. The scope of this newly regulated industry makes it the largest ever in the United States.”

         Under the regulations, dispensary owners will be subject to licensing fees and criminal background checks. Dispensaries will be required to grow 70 percent of the marijuana they sell and, like liquor stores, could not operate within 1,000 feet of a school.

         A state-regulated medical marijuana program is up and running in New Mexico and similar programs will soon be operational in Rhode Island, Maine, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. — but the number of sanctioned dispensaries to be allowed in each of those states is fewer than 10. Colorado’s law will authorize hundreds, and potentially more if future demand increases.

         A Rasmussen telephone poll released May 15 showed that there is also plurality support among Colorado voters for further expanding the state’s marijuana laws. Forty-nine percent of likely voters said they support taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol, with an additional 13 percent still undecided. 

         With more than 124,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit www.mpp.org.

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