nah i just found an updated article NJ Senate approves medical marijuana bill \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy ANGELA DELLI SANTI |Associated Press Writer February 23, 2009 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTRENTON, N.J. - Chronically ill New Jerseyans could alleviate their suffering legally by smoking marijuana under a bill passed Monday by the state Senate. The proposal by Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Linden, would allow patients with certain chronic and terminal illnesses to grow six marijuana plants or have marijuana grown for them at an authorized treatment center. "If medical marijuana can ease some of the suffering of a patient who's dying from a chronic, severe or terminal disease, state government should not stand in the way of that relief," Scutari said after the vote. The 22-16 Senate vote marked the first time the bill had advanced in the Legislature. It now goes to the New Jersey Assembly, where its fate is uncertain. \t \t \t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIf the proposal becomes law, New Jersey would become the 14th state to allow medical marijuana. Advocates say medicinal marijuana has been shown to alleviate pain and nausea in patients suffering from cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and HIV _ the virus that causes AIDS _ when other drugs fail. "For the sake of our most vulnerable, our sick and dying patients struggling for relief, now is the time for New Jersey to join the growing list of states allowing compassionate use of medical marijuana," said Roseanne Scotti of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that supports the bill. Critics say the bill would promote illegal drug use. Sen. Gerald Cardinale, R-Cresskill, said he opposed it because of unanswered questions about how authorities would oversee marijuana growing inside patients' homes. Most of the states that allow it have done so through ballot referendums. In New Jersey, the law must be changed by the Legislature. States where medical marijuana is legal are: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Only Hawaii, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Mexico legislatures passed bills to legalize medical marijuana; the other states did so through voter referendum. Scotti said in New Jersey, polls show residents support the legislation by numbers as high as 86 percent. During a 2006 hearing on the bill, celebrity Montel Williams told New Jersey lawmakers that marijuana helps alleviate chronic knee and foot pain brought on by multiple sclerosis. Williams, a registered medical marijuana user in California, said he became an activist pushing for medical marijuana laws after being stopped at a Detroit airport by an Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms officer for carrying drug paraphernalia. The charge was later dropped.
We need to hammer the Assembly with emails, and let them know we're watching, and that they'll be voted out if they don't do the right thing. Show no compassion - get no compassion. It's as simple as that. Yay Senate, but 22 to 16 is still lame. It should have been 38-0...but I'll take it And +rep for you Amsterdamage, good shit there.
The amount of ignorance demonstrated by people elected to office, and paid a fucking hefty damn amount of money, by us, for the rest of their lives, astounds me. "Yes, Senator. Studies DO show that suffocation, NOT Marijuana, kills brain cells!" "If you had done 15 minutes of homework on the subject, Senator, you would know this, instead of listening to propaganda, and accepting it at face value." What a bunch of dumb ass politicians. The same ignorance that made cannabis illegal, and has kept it illegal, survives, even to this day. How utterly sad. But slowly, and surely, the ignorance is being overcome. Persistence will win in the end. As the gentleman at the very end of The Union says, and I am paraphrasing... A lie like that can't be perpetuated forever... Let's hope he is right!
Damnit PA, get with the program! We're just about surrounded by MMJ states now and yet I've still heard nothing about PA taking any steps towards MMJ
Originally Posted by The Star Ledger S119: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2008/Bills/S0500/119_I1.HTM N.J. Senate approves bill allowing use of medical marijuana by Susan K. Livio/The Star-Ledger Monday February 23, 2009, 7:31 PM The state Senate voted today to legalize marijuana for medical use, despite warnings the drug would fall into the hands of recreational users instead of the chronically ill patients who suffer from debilitating symptoms. The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act targets patients suffering from a debilitating disease defined as cancer, glaucoma, HIV and AIDS, and other chronic illnesses that cause "wasting syndrome, severe or chronic pain, seizures and severe and persistent muscle spasms," according to the bill. Star-Ledger File Photo Sen. Nicholas Scutari "We are not talking about drug addicts and thrill-seekers -- we are talking about desperately sick people in need of relief," Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), one of the bill's sponsors, said before the vote. In order to participate, patients would need a written recommendation from their doctor and approval from the state Department of Health and Senior Services, which would issue identification cards. Enrolled patients would be protected from criminal prosecution to possess up to six plants or one ounce of marijuana. The state would also license "compassion centers" that would grow and distribute the plants, according to the bill. "This is a vote of conscience," Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) said. "My conscience tells me we should ease people's pain and suffering, and give them hope. . .God knows they have suffered enough." But Sen. Fred Madden (D-Gloucester) argued the bill's language is too broad, and could replicate the kinds of abuses seen in San Diego and Los Angeles, "where some doctors are giving marijuana essentially for every ailment they could think of" -- from premenstrual syndrome, attention deficit disorder and schizophrenia, Madden said. Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen) said the legislation would "make sense" if it had been written to benefit the most "severely debilitated patients" like the terminally ill. As is, however, "it's the wrong thing for people in New Jersey and the wrong thing for our children," he said. The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 22-16 with two abstentions. "God bless them," Stephen Cuspilich, a 46-year-old Burlington County man diagnosed with Crohn's disease, said immediately after the vote. Should the measure become law, he said access to legal marijuana would enable him to stop taking five of the sick medications he requires to control cramping and nausea caused by the chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract. As someone who has used the illegal drug to quell nausea and other symptoms associated with the chronic lung and digestive disease cystic fibrosis, Gareth Muchmore, a 22-year-old man from Vernon, said he prefers government to be involved with the testing and regulation of medical marijuana. "If the government grew it, the potency could be controlled and the amount could be controlled," said Muchmore, who donned a suit and made his first trip to the state capital to show his support for the bill. "It should be in the hands of trusted officials, not just patients." New Jersey would be the 14th state to create a sanctioned medical marijuana program if the legislation passes both houses and is signed into law by the governor. But the legislation still has a long way to go. There's been no movement on the Assembly version of the bill, sponsored by Assemblymen Reed Gusciora, (D-Mercer), Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris) and Assemblyman Joan Voss (D-Hudson). And opponents said they are gearing up to defeat the measure if it gains any momentum in the Assembly. "There is no doubt in my mind the Assembly will be very cautious dealing with this," John Tomicki said, the executive director of the League of American Families. "Parents are alarmed they've given the green light for marijuana use." David Evans an attorney and executive director of the Drug Free School Coalition, a national group, said his organization will mobilize to challenge the bill in the lower house. "This is dressed up as compassion but this bill is way, way too loose," Evans said. "It will be too easy to get marijuana." Source: NJ.com
If you live in NJ email your legislators http://capwiz.com/norml2/state/main/?state=NJ&view=myofficials#0 and ensure that the drug free school coalition doesn't succeed in killing this bill!! To quote Senator Scutari from yesterday: Society owes a special duty to its ill and infirmed. Our deeply held belief in the value of another human life demands that we give very sick people this chance at a normal life. This is NOT an attempt to get around federal marijuana laws, this is an opportunity to ease the suffering of those less fortunate than ourselves.
NJ gov says he'd sign medical marijuana law http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--medicalmarijuana0225feb25,0,4357703.story
omgggggggggggggggggg dispensaries all over NJ. fucking pinch me. this is so surreal. i have a feeling people are going to start robbing those places lol
you're in NJ man? you need to write to the Assembly disproving the claims Sen Cardinale made in the Senate on Monday. Marijuana does NOT cause brain cells to die. MMJ is NOT an attempt to get around federal laws criminalizing MJ. MMJ laws do NOT send children a wrong message. These people are woefully unaware of the research that's been conducted on MJ and the consistent and irrefutable findings proving marijuana to be incredibly safe and nonaddicting for adults. Contact them now and you might just change a deciding no vote to a yes!
Medical marijuana is on its way to New Jersey Find out more information visit these sites: www.njthc.com www.njdispensary.com www.njcannabisclub.com
I wrote a letter and I don't even live in NJ. It's all about working together. Surround PA with enough states with MMJ and were guaranteed to get some form of legislation.
medical marijuana is good and all, but when do you think we can expect some decriminilization, because we all cant be cancer patients and such -.-
Fuck decriminilization mein. What we need is legalization, which is currently in progress in the state of California.
so does this mean that people suffering from such things as ADD, Sleeping disorders, and Depression will not be able to obtain MMJ in New Jersey right now?