The Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc. (CMMNJ) supports Assemblyman O'Scanlon's legislation that would prevent local officials from stopping the cultivation of medical marijuana.
The Upper Freehold Township Committee adopted an ordinance in December that was designed to ban medical marijuana facilities in its township. The committee said that they would not permit any facility there that was engaged in an activity that is against federal law.
The type of ordinance that was passed by Upper Freehold Township, and several other communities, was ill-advised for several reasons.
• These ordinances are designed to thwart the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act in favor of the deeply flawed federal law, the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The federal law is flawed, in part, because it refuses to recognize that there are accepted medical uses for marijuana in the U.S. The CSA does so despite abundant evidence to the contrary which includes a large and growing body of scientific evidence and the laws of 16 states and the District of Columbia, as well as pending legislation in at least ten other states;
• These ordinances are designed to undo an important state’s right. As a traditional right of a state, New Jersey has the power to define the practice of medicine within its borders. That is exactly what it has done for the health and welfare of its citizens—indeed, its most desperately ill citizens—when it passed the Compassionate Use Act;
• These ordinances are clear attempts to subvert state law, and may well be illegal. These communities are first and foremost part of the State of New Jersey, not federal territories, and they should not be subverting state laws; and,
• These ordinances were motivated by fear and Reefer Madness, and not by a reasonable evaluation of the risks and benefits of having an Alternative Treatment Center or its production facility located in the community.
Ken Wolski, RN, MPA, Executive Director
Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc.
219 Woodside Ave., Trenton, NJ 08618
609.394.2137 www.cmmnj.org ohamkrw@aol.com
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