Sunday, April 29, 2018

POT Comes to NJ: May 10 -12, Jersey City


“Patients Out of Time” Conference Coming to New Jersey, May 10-12, 2018

Mary Lynn Mathre, RN, MSN, CARN, the President and Founding Director of “Patients Out of Time” (POT), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization, is bringing her highly regarded cannabis/marijuana conference to New Jersey this year. POT’s 12th national conference, “Cannabis: Alleviates Pain, Treats Addiction” will be held May 10 – 12, 2018 at Loews Movie Palace, 54 Journal Square Plaza, Jersey City, NJ. Registration information is available at: http://patientsoutoftime.org/the-twelfth-national-clinical-conference-on-cannabis-therapeutics/

The POT conference is an excellent way for physicians to earn CMEs and nurses and other healthcare professionals to earn contact hours (CEUs) for their continuing education requirements, while learning about the science that supports the use of marijuana/cannabis. POT conferences bring together some of the top marijuana researchers from across the country and from around the world.  Medical marijuana patients and activists are also represented at these conferences.

The theme of the conference, the use of marijuana in the treatment of pain and addiction, is particularly relevant to New Jersey this year.

In October 2017, the healthcare professionals in the Review Panel, appointed by the New Jersey Department of Health (DOH), recommended that 43 petitions be approved as additional qualifying conditions for marijuana therapy in the state’s Medicinal Marijuana Program (MMP). The majority of these petitions concerned chronic pain of various origins. One of the petitions recommended for approval would allow marijuana to be recommended for Opioid Use Disorder.

Governor Phil Murphy signed Executive Order #6 on January 23, 2018 directing the DOH and the Board of Medical Examiners to review the MMP within 60 days and make recommendations to expand it and ease access to it. See: http://nj.gov/infobank/eo/056murphy/pdf/EO-6.pdf

Governor Murphy announced at a press conference in Trenton on March 27, 2018 that the Commissioner of the DOH approved the recommendations of the Review Panel, along with other improvements to the MMP. For the full report on Executive Order 6, see:
http://www.state.nj.us/health/medicalmarijuana/documents/EO6Report_Final.pdf

The governor noted that “scientific studies demonstrate that the medical use of marijuana has proven to be an effective treatment for patients suffering from painful, debilitating, and often chronic medical conditions; (but) of New Jersey’s nine million residents, only approximately 15,000 are able to participate in the State’s MMP.” Expanding the MMP will “ensure that (patients) are receiving a product tailored to their medical needs, and make them less likely to turn to potentially more harmful and less medically appropriate drugs such as opioids, the use of which was declared a public health crisis.”

The governor said at the press conference, "For 8 years medical marijuana has been legal in New Jersey, but the law's spirit has been stifled by a hostile administration. We've had medical marijuana in name only."

Governor Murphy also campaigned to legalize marijuana for adult use in New Jersey. Marijuana use is poised to become a great deal more prevalent in New Jersey with the expansion of the medical program and the possibility of legalization for adults. It therefore is incumbent on healthcare professionals to have a greater understanding of the expected effects, side effects, adverse effects, dosages and drug interactions associated with the use of this substance.

Attending the Patients Out of Time national conference, “Cannabis: Alleviates Pain, Treats Addiction” is an excellent place to start, or continue, this educational process.

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
ohamkrw@aol.com

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Deschedule Marijuana


Deschedule Marijuana: Remove it from the list of Controlled Dangerous Substances


Testimony to the 
Office of The Attorney General
Division of Consumer Affairs
The Richard J Hughes Justice Complex
Attorney General's Library 
Trenton NJ 08611

April 24, 2018

by:
Kenneth R. Wolski, RN, MPA
219 Woodside Ave., Trenton, NJ  08618
(609) 394-2137 kenwolski@gmail.com

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who was President Obama's original choice to be U.S. Surgeon General, said, "We have been terribly and systematically misled (about marijuana) for nearly 70 years in the United States." This misinformation, fed by decades of cherry-picked science, continues. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which refuses to allow research into the benefits of medical marijuana, and only permits research into its harms, is an important part of this misinformation. The federal government still insists that there are no accepted medical benefits of marijuana despite the facts that: 
  • 30 states have passed laws recognizing marijuana as medicine; 
  • over a million Americans use marijuana with a physician's recommendation;
  • scores of healthcare organizations endorse medical marijuana; and, 
  • an entirely new field of science, based on the discovery of how marijuana actually works in the human body--the Endocannabinoid system--is emerging.

The issue is personal as well as professional for me.

In 1966, when I was a senior at Trenton Central High School, I did a term paper on drugs. Shortly after my research was completed I determined to try marijuana for myself. Marijuana was fairly easy to obtain, even back then. I experimented with marijuana a few times before I graduated from high school, over 50 years ago. I was convinced, even then, that the government was exaggerating the dangers associated with marijuana, as it continues to do today.

By 1969, I was a full time college student and I was using marijuana regularly, a couple of times a week. I was an advocate for marijuana law reform, and I was thrilled that the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 19, 1969. It was a political decision to ban marijuana in 1937, not a medical or scientific one. Previous scientific studies like the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report were ignored. The draconian penalties against the possession, use and cultivation of marijuana were entirely inappropriate. These penalties were the result of government misinformation and propaganda that insisted that the use of marijuana led invariably to “insanity, criminality and death.” My own direct experience, and the experience of millions of others, was that the use of marijuana was more likely to lead to “peace, love and happiness.”

For a short time in 1969 and 1970, there was no federal law against the use of marijuana. My initial elation at this fact was tempered by the realization that the vast majority of marijuana arrests were at the state and local level. The laws against marijuana at these levels were still intact and marijuana arrests were rising every year nationally. According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), annual marijuana arrests in the U.S. went from 31,000 in 1966 to 188,000 in 1970:

My hopes for reform of marijuana laws were further tempered by Congress rushing through the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The CSA was introduced in Congress in September 10, 1970 and signed into law by President Richard Nixon on October 27, 1970. I well remember the controversy and even outrage from some when it was learned that marijuana was to be included, along with heroin, as a Schedule I drug, meaning that it had no accepted medical uses in the U.S.

A growing population of health care professionals and patients realized by 1970 that marijuana had medical uses, at a minimum for use in the management of glaucoma and for the nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. My research showed that marijuana was used medicinally in many different cultures throughout history. Indeed, marijuana was a recognized medicinal in the U.S. for about 100 years, from approximately 1840 to 1940. There were about 100 articles about the therapeutic value of cannabis/marijuana in the American scientific journals of the day. Marijuana/cannabis was removed from the U.S. Pharmacopeia in 1942 because of a campaign of government propaganda against it that led to the passage of the now-unconstitutional Marijuana Tax in 1937. Marijuana was taken OFF the U.S. market for political reasons when Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act in 1937.  There was no scientific evidence that marijuana led to “insanity, criminality and death” as alleged by government officials then.  Marijuana was legal in the U.S. for medical purposes longer than it was illegal.

To quell the outrage about marijuana’s inclusion as a Schedule I drug, the government promised that this was only temporary, pending the results of a commission that was being appointed to study whether marijuana was appropriately included as a Schedule I drug. 

After the CSA passed in 1970, President Nixon appointed the Shafer Commission to study whether marijuana was properly classified.  The Shafer Commission, a handpicked group of conservative politicians and academicians, studied the issue for almost two years.  Their findings were that marijuana should not be included as a scheduled drug at all, but rather that it be decriminalized for adult use in the U.S.  The Shafer Commission said, “The actual and potential harm of use of the drug is not great enough to justify intrusion by the criminal law into private behavior.”  However, President Nixon ignored the results of the commission he appointed.  

I recommend that the entire Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, “Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding” commissioned by President Richard M. Nixon, March, 1972 be entered into the record of this hearing.

Some salient excerpts from the above report include: 
  • “Cannabis sativa has been used therapeutically from the earliest records, nearly 5,000 years ago, to the present day (Mikuriya, 1969: 34) and its products have been widely noted for their effects, both physiological and psychological, throughout the world.”
  • “For a half-century, official social policy has been not only to discourage use but to eliminate it…With the principal responsibility for this policy assigned to law enforcement, its implementation reached its zenith in the late 1950's and early 1960's when marihuana-related offenses were punishable by long periods of incarceration. This policy grew out of a distorted and greatly exaggerated concept of the drug's ordinary effects upon the individual and the society.”
  • “Marihuana's relative potential for harm to the vast majority of individual users and its actual impact on society does not justify a social policy designed to seek out and firmly punish those who use it. This judgment is based on prevalent, use patterns, on behavior exhibited by the vast majority of users and on our interpretations of existing medical and scientific data. This position also is consistent with the estimate by law enforcement personnel that the elimination of use is unattainable.”
  • “The criminal law is too harsh a tool to apply to personal possession even in the effort to discourage use. It implies an overwhelming indictment of the behavior which we believe is not appropriate.”
  • “The most notable statement that can be made about the vast majority of marihuana users-experimenters and intermittent users-is that they are essentially indistinguishable from their non-marihuana using peers by any fundamental criterion other than their marihuana use.”
  • “On the basis of our findings…we have concluded that society should seek to discourage use, while concentrating its attention on the prevention and treatment of heavy and very heavy use. The Commission feels that the criminalization of possession of marihuana for personal is socially self-defeating as a means of achieving this objective.”
  • “Marijuana has important therapeutic qualities which should be aggressively explored.”
  • “The existing social and legal policy is out of proportion to the individual and social harm engendered by the use of the drug.”


In 1972 the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics (ACT), and National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) petitioned the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) to reschedule marijuana to a Schedule II drug, to make it available for doctors to prescribe. The BNDD, which was the precursor to the DEA, and later the DEA refused to hold hearings for 14 years. They had to be taken to court three times before they would hold the hearings and finally in 1986, hearings were begun. 

Regarding these hearings, I highly recommend the two volume book, “Marijuana, Medicine & the Law,” R.C. Randall, editor, Galen Press, Washington, D.C., 1988. Volume I is the record of “Direct Testimony of Witnesses On Marijuana’s Medical Use In The Treatment of Life- & Sense-Threatening Diseases Including Cancer, Glaucoma, Multiple Sclerosis, Para- & Quadriplegia, Chronic Pain & Skin Disorders In Hearings Before The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.” Volume II is the record of “Legal Briefs, Oral Arguments & Decision Of The Administrative Law Judge On Marijuana’s Medical Use In the Treatment of Life- & Sense-Threatening Diseases.”

Doctors, nurses, patients and researchers testified that marijuana should be available. Researchers additionally testified about the difficulty of conducting research on marijuana due to the federal government’s restrictions. The DEA testified why marijuana should remain unavailable. The decision was given by the US Department of Justice, DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young on September 6, 1988. He said:
  • “The evidence in this record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and during so with safety under medical supervision.”
  • “It would be unreasoning, arbitrary and capricious for DEA to continue to stand between these sufferers and this substance in light of the evidence in this record.”
  • “Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.” 

Marijuana should have been rescheduled and approved nationwide for medical use then and there. Unfortunately, the Administrator of the DEA overturned the judge’s decision, acting in an arbitrary, capricious and unreasoning manner.

Subsequent attempts to reschedule marijuana on the federal level have been unfairly frustrated and similarly unsuccessful. The DEA even manipulates the English language. In its July 2011 denial of a nine-year-old petition to reschedule marijuana, the DEA said that marijuana had a high potential for abuse. But according to the DEA, abuse of marijuana does not mean that the use of marijuana is interfering with a person’s life in some negative way, marijuana abuse means any use of marijuana, even when recommended by physicians in state-legal programs, since marijuana is federally illegal except for research purposes. Like in Alice in Wonderland, words mean what the DEA wants them to mean.

The DEA also said in July 2011 that it could not reschedule marijuana because no large-scale clinical trials have been done. There have been a number of very successful small-scale double-blind, placebo controlled clinical trials of marijuana in the U.S. These successful trials would presumably lead to large-scale trials. But NIDA, the only official source of research grade marijuana in the U.S., following its mandate, does not approve research into the benefits of marijuana. Moreover, NIDA has never had a sufficient supply of marijuana to conduct these trials. 

Professor Lyle Craker from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst faculty is an example of an unsuccessful 10-year struggle to grow a sufficient supply of marijuana to conduct large scale clinical trials. Prof. Craker’s research was approved by the university and the FDA, but DEA refused to allow him to proceed. The professor took DEA to court and DEA’s own Judge Bittner ruled the professor should proceed, and that the federal government’s supply of marijuana was “inadequate” but DEA overruled the judge: http://www.maps.org/research/mmj/mmj-news/2525-background-on-the-craker-lawsuit


As we have seen, researchers have complained for over 30 years that access to marijuana for research purposes has consistently been stymied.  It is absurd to have DEA be the final arbiter of what clinical and scientific studies can be done on marijuana in America. DEA is part of the Department of Justice—federal police. We should not have federal police guarding and limiting our scientific borders. This is inappropriate and unreasonable. We must resolve, as a nation, to stop DEA’s interference with science and medicine and never let it happen again.

This is beyond Kafkaesque. It is an embarrassment to science, to countless health care professionals and to patients nationwide.

I have been hearing since the 1960’s that more research on marijuana is needed. In all that time, there has never once been a clinical trial of marijuana in New Jersey for any disease, symptom or medical condition. 

Opponents of marijuana reform say that there are no long term studies of the safety of marijuana, and that we must wait 20 years or so for these long-term studies to be completed—studies that have not even begun yet. This is nonsense. Millions of Baby Boomers have been using marijuana for 50 or more years. You have only to look around you for evidence of marijuana’s long term safety. It promotes nothing but useless suffering to say more study is needed and then do nothing about the lack of studies.  

For the following reasons, marijuana must be rescheduled in New Jersey:
  • Marijuana is considered medicine in 30 states, including New Jersey and the District of Columbia, by duly passed legislation; and, 
  • Marijuana has historically been used as a medicine both in the United States and in much of the world; and,
  • The Shafer Report concluded that marijuana was misclassified as a Schedule I drug and should be decriminalized for adult use in the U.S.; and,
  • DEA Judge Francis Young concluded that marijuana should be rescheduled after a public hearing on the issue; and,
  • Numerous legitimate health care organizations have issued statements that recognize the therapeutic safety and efficacy of marijuana.

In 2008, the American College of Physicians (ACP), the country’s second-largest physician group called on the federal government to reschedule marijuana. In 2009, the American Medical Association (AMA) urged the federal government to reschedule marijuana. The ACP and the AMA join the American Nurses Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the British Medical Association, the Canadian Medical Association, and dozens of other organizations of healthcare professionals in calling for rescheduling of marijuana, but the federal government continues to refuse to do so.

The U.S. Supreme Court has already acknowledged (in the Garden Grove decision) that states have the right to determine the proper practice of medicine within each state.  In the Garden Grove case the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court’s decision that said: "Congress enacted the Controlled Substances Act to combat recreational drug abuse and curb drug trafficking.  Its goal was not to regulate the practice of medicine, a task that falls within the traditional powers of the states.”

Marijuana prohibition rests on a lie. The lie is that marijuana is a Schedule I drug, with no accepted medical uses in the U.S., is unsafe for use even under medical supervision, and it has a high potential for abuse. None of that is true. New Jersey is one of 30 states that have accepted medical uses for marijuana; the safety profile of marijuana is the envy of most prescription drugs and even many over-the-counter drugs, and while marijuana may have a high potential for use, it does not typically interfere with a person’s life to the extent that it could be considered “abuse.” Most people who use marijuana—about 20 million Americans a month—use it periodically or episodically. As a Schedule I drug, marijuana is in the same class with heroin, a powerfully addictive and potentially deadly drug. Yet marijuana is about as addictive as caffeine and has never killed anyone through overdose. To put marijuana in the same class with heroin is absurd. Even children know that. When minors find out they have been lied to about marijuana they will not believe the very real dangers that can be associated with the use of other drugs. This Big Lie is the basis for the current draconian penalties against marijuana and it is an appalling lie to tell children.

In New Jersey, it is the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs who is empowered to change the schedule of drugs.  I met with Tom Calcagni, former Director of Consumer Affairs, Office of the Attorney General, regarding rescheduling marijuana on 2/15/11, in Newark. He had the power but not the will to reschedule marijuana. I pointed out to him that it was logically inconsistent for the state to say marijuana was a Schedule I drug with no accepted medical uses while at the same time enumerating the medical uses for marijuana.   (See my attached letter to Mr. Calcagni.) Director Calcagni was very interested and promised to have subsequent meetings with me, but after I left his office, all the subsequent meetings were cancelled and he denied my request to reschedule marijuana in New Jersey.

Simply rescheduling marijuana to a different level of controlled substance (Schedules II – V) is not enough. If marijuana is to be legal for any adult to purchase in New Jersey, which Governor Murphy hopes to accomplish as quickly as possible, marijuana should not be considered a controlled dangerous substance at all. Marijuana should be descheduled in New Jersey.

Removing marijuana entirely from the New Jersey Controlled Dangerous Substances Act, N.J.S.A. 24:21-2, is an important measure in legalizing marijuana in the state. 

Even after descheduling, the State can still pass laws against the misuse of marijuana, just like we have laws against the misuse of alcohol, which is not a controlled substance, either. 

Descheduling marijuana in NJ will encourage other states to do likewise, and it will put pressure on the federal government to change its absurd, almost 50-year-old opinion that marijuana is a Schedule I drug, an opinion that is purely political and completely unsupported by science. 

Thank you for your consideration.

Ken Wolski, RN, MPA
Executive Director
Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc.



References:

Federal drug law, 21 U.S.C. § 903, gives the states the authority to determine accepted medical use. See, Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243, 269-270 (2006):  
“Congress regulates medical practice insofar as it bars doctors from using their prescription-writing powers as a means to engage in illicit drug dealing and trafficking as conventionally understood. Beyond this, however, the statute manifests no intent to regulate the practice of medicine generally. Federalism… (allows) the States ‘great latitude under their police powers to legislate as to the protection of the lives, limbs, health, comfort, and quiet of all persons.’” Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470, 475, 116 S. Ct. 2240, 135 L. Ed. 2d 700 (1996) (quoting Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U.S. 724, 756, 105 S. Ct. 2380, 85 L. Ed. 2d 728 (1985)).

“Marijuana, Medicine & the Law, Volume I & Volume II,” R.C. Randall, editor, Galen Press, Washington, D.C., 1988.

Congressional Research Service Report for Congress
Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies, 
Mark Eddy, Specialist in Social Policy, April 2, 2010.

Report of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse:
Marijuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding  
(The Shafer Commission Report)
Commissioned by President Richard M. Nixon, March 1972

United States Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration
In The Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition Docket No. 86-22
Opinion and recommended Ruling, Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Decision of
Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young, September 6, 1988

29 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC
Laws, Fees, and Possession Limits

Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program

State of New Jersey Department of Health, Medicinal Marijuana Program
New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act

Emerging Clinical Applications for Cannabis and Cannabinoids:
A Review of the Recent Scientific Literature, Fifth Edition, 4/10/2012
Paul Armentano, Deputy Director, NORML Foundation, Washington, DC

Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base (1999)
Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson, Jr., and John A. Benson, Jr., Editors; Institute of Medicine
Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Health
National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine

Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
Volume 30, Issue 10, October 2009, Pages 515–527

Physical, Mental, and Moral Effects of Marijuana: The Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Report

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), annual marijuana arrests in the U.S. went from 31,000 in 1966 to 188,000 in 1970:

Professor Lyle Craker, University of Massachusetts/Amherst, unsuccessful 10-year struggle to grow a sufficient supply of marijuana to conduct large scale clinical trials:

Enc.: January 6, 2011 letter to:
Thomas R. Calcagni, Acting Director, Division of Consumer Affairs
P.O. Box 45027, Newark, NJ 07101
Re: Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act effectively rescheduled marijuana in New Jersey

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

420 Trenton, NJ March & Rally 2018


For more info, contact: Ken (609) 394-2137, or see:
https://www.facebook.com/events/376738006135903/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WHO: New Jersey Cannabis Community  
WHAT: March from Trenton City Hall to a Rally at the NJ State House Annex
WHEN: April 20, 2018 (1:00pm March from Trenton City Hall; 2:00pm Speakers at NJ State House Annex; 3:30pm Music by Herb Funk)
WHY: Celebrate progress in marijuana reform, free drug war prisoners, ensure home cultivation & end marijuana stigma.

The Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey will be hosting a Cannabis Community march and rally from Trenton City Hall to the NJ State House Annex on April 20th, 2018. Anonymous—HempSector @HempSector will lead the march.

We will gather together to support cannabis rights for all people at the capital city. April 20th is International Peter Tosh Day. Peter Tosh was a human rights activist who wrote and performed the iconic song, “Legalize It.” We will celebrate the progress we have made. We will discuss further actions needed by our community and our legislators to make medicinal marijuana affordable for patients and to stop arrests of all cannabis users. Speakers will share information about the medicinal marijuana program, prospects of legalization, and ways to get involved.

At the State House Annex, marchers will join the Sativa Cross podcast to hear educational and inspirational testimony by invited speakers, followed by musical performances. We want to end the stigma on cannabis. Please join us in standing up for justice for people and cannabis!

#LetPatientsGrow #TheyShallGrow #LegalizeIt #PeterTosh420 #JusticeForJawara

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 ohamkrw@aol.com info@cmmnj.org

CMMNJ, a 501(c)(3) public charity, provides education about safe and legal access to medical marijuana.



Tuesday, April 3, 2018

CMMNJ's April 2018 Public Meeting Agenda


Monthly Public Meeting Agenda 
Lawrence Twp. Library, Rm. #3 
Tuesday, April 10, 2018, 7-9 PM

Approve March 2018 minutes. Discuss:

Descheduling hearings: 4/19/18, Newark, 124 Halsey Street, 9:30-12:30 p.m. and 1:30-4:30 p.m., and on 4/24/18 in Trenton, 25 Market Street, 9:30-12:30 p.m. and 1:30-4:30 p.m. Send requests to speak & written comments by 4/12/18 to: www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/Proposals/Pages/default.aspx

CMMNJ testified at the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee on 3/22/18 in support of Substitute bill A3437: https://cmmnj.blogspot.com/2018/04/march-25-2018-revised-testimony.html

CMMNJ was invited to Gov. Murphy’s Press Conference on 3/27/18 for the Executive Order #6 Report. CMMNJ was very happy with the recommendations to expand conditions, end registry, cut fees, etc. See:  http://www.state.nj.us/health/medicalmarijuana/documents/EO6Report_Final.pdf

NJ Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee: CMMNJ testified in support of legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana for adults in NJ on 3/5/18. Follow up committee meetings are planned for 4/21 @ 10 am at Rowan U., Glassboro, and 5/12 @10 am at Bergen C.C., Paramus.

NJ’s legalization bills in 2018 legislative session (S830 / A1348).
Marijuana Justice Act of 2017 (S1689): Urge support in Congress: Capwiz from DPA and NORML.

Political Prisoner Ed (NJWeedman) Forchion in jail over one year; found guilty of nothing! Free him!

Upcoming Events: Marijuana rally planned in Trenton on April 20th (420) from 9 am to 3 pm.

Patients Out of Time conference, “Cannabis: Alleviates Pain, Treats Addiction” Jersey City, 5/10–12/18.
Press release: https://cmmnj.blogspot.com/2018/02/national-pot-conference-coming-to-new.html

Trenton mayoral and council candidates’ event, 4/6 & 4/17, Trinity Cathedral, 6-9pm.

NJ Cannabis Commission Response to NJ Black Caucus prohibitionists: Atlantic City, 4/24, 8-4pm.

ASA Unity Conference, “End Pain, Not Lives. Make Cannabis an Option,” Washington, D.C., 5/22-25/18

Treasury report: Checking: $2952; PayPal: $3727.

CMMNJ's meetings are the 2nd Tuesday of each month from 7 - 9 PM at the Lawrence Twp. Library, 2751 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence Twp., 08648. All are welcome. (Meeting at the library does not imply Mercer County’s endorsement of our issue.)

More info: Ken Wolski, RN, MPA (609) 394-2137 ohamkrw@aol.com http://www.cmmnj.org

Facebook: Friends of CMMNJ: https://www.facebook.com/groups/62462971150/

CMMNJ, a 501(c)(3) public charity, is a non-profit educational organization.


Monthly Public Meeting Minutes 
March 13, 2018

February 2018 minutes approved. Discussion:

Many thanks to the representatives of numerous organizations who attended the March meeting!

CMMNJ met with DOH Deputy Commissioner Jackie Cornell on 2/28/18 re Gov. Murphy’s Executive Order #6 to expand and improve access to the Medicinal Marijuana Program. See: Regulatory and Legislative Recommendations for the New Jersey Medicinal Marijuana Program (MMP):
https://cmmnj.blogspot.com/2018/04/cmmnjs-regulatory-and-legislative.html

Patients still report ATCs running out of strains like AC/DC, which won’t be available for months. 

NJ Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee: CMMNJ testified in support of legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana for adults in NJ on March 5, 2018. See: https://cmmnj.blogspot.com/2018/03/legislative-testimony-supporting.html
Follow up committee meetings planned for 4/21 @ 10 am at Rowan U., Glassboro, and 5/12 @10 am at Bergen C.C., Paramus.

Advocates speak up at local council meetings throughout the state in support of marijuana reform. Jim Miller went to the Toms River council and Lefty Grimes is going to many communities.

March 10, 2018 was the 15th anniversary of CMMNJ’s first public event at the White Dog CafĂ©.

NJ’s legalization bills in 2018 legislative session (S830 / A1348).

Marijuana Justice Act of 2017 (S1689): Urge support in Congress: Capwiz from DPA and NORML.

Political Prisoner Ed (NJWeedman) Forchion in jail over one year; found guilty of nothing! Free him! 

Medical marijuana became available for purchase in Pennsylvania on Feb. 15, and a total of six dispensaries are opening across the state this week. 

Leo Bridgewater attended the Black Caucus meeting in Jersey City—mostly opponents of legalization were invited to speak; follow up meetings 3/27 in Elizabeth and 4/24 at the Borgata in Atlantic City.

Upcoming Events: 
Marijuana rally planned in Trenton on April 20th (420) from 9 am to 3 pm.
 “Cannabis: Alleviates Pain, Treats Addiction” Patients Out of Time conference, Jersey City, 5/10–12/18.
Ken speaking on a panel 5/10; also NJ women veterans speaking. Press release sent 2/6/18.

Treasury report: Checking: $2951; PayPal: $3235; (1000 new ECS brochures purchased). 

More info: Ken Wolski, RN, MPA (609) 394-2137 ohamkrw@aol.com http://www.cmmnj.org

CMMNJ, a 501(c)(3) public charity, is a non-profit educational organization.

Order 100% hemp bands from CMMNJ: 
$1 each/wholesale prices available




Recent Media Coverage and Blogs:

Executive Order 6 Report
http://www.state.nj.us/health/medicalmarijuana/documents/EO6Report_Final.pdf

How dangerous is marijuana? N.J.'s top cop wants to hear from you
http://www.nj.com/marijuana/2018/04/how_dangerous_is_marijuana_njs_top_cop_want_to_hea.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

The business of weed, from the medical marijuana industry to the black market
http://www.silive.com/news/2018/03/medicinal_black_market.html

Fix medical marijuana program, Phil Murphy's new health commissioner told
http://www.nj.com/marijuana/2018/03/fix_medical_marijuana_program_senate_panel_tells_n.html

Do NJ cops know medical marijuana guidelines? Not really, says an advocate on a mission
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2018/03/09/medical-marijuana-advocate-mission-protect-patients-one-cop-time/1062381001/

Want to make big money in legal weed? These jobs may soon be coming to N.J.
http://www.nj.com/marijuana/2018/03/legal_weed_provides_several_ways_to_make_money_wit.html

Legalized pot in New Jersey - not so fast
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/marijuana-legalize-pot-new-jersey-legislature-20180309.html#loaded

Pot Advocate Quizzes Police on Medical Marijuana Laws
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-jersey/articles/2018-03-10/pot-advocate-quizzes-police-on-medical-marijuana-laws

NJ marijuana legalization: Home grow, 400 legal weed dispensaries OK in new bill
https://www.app.com/story/news/local/public-safety/2018/03/13/new-jersey-marijuana-legalization-weed-dispensaries-home-grow-2018/420023002/

NJ marijuana legalization: Will Murphy’s Jan. 2019 deadline for legal weed become reality?
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2018/03/15/legal-weed-nj-marijuana-budget-but-not-sure-thing/426324002/

NJ marijuana legalization: Is home grow too much, too soon with legal weed?
https://www.app.com/story/news/local/public-safety/2018/03/16/new-jersey-marijuana-legalization-home-grow-legal-weed-phil-murphy-2018/428630002/

Chris Conrad & Mikki Norris: Their Story | Pt.1: The Golden Years
http://www.cannabisnewsnetwork.com/chris-conrad-mikki-norris-their-story-pt-1-the-golden-years/

Doctors -- not politicians -- should decide who gets medical marijuana, N.J. panel says
http://www.nj.com/marijuana/2018/03/let_doctors_not_politicians_decide_who_gets_medici.html

LAWMAKERS GO FOR HYBRID PROPOSAL TO EXPAND MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROGRAM IN NJ
http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/18/03/22/lawmakers-go-for-hybrid-proposal-to-expand-medical-marijuana-program/

Get ready for massive expansion of N.J.'s medical marijuana program. Here's the scoop.
http://www.nj.com/marijuana/2018/03/report_nj_medical_marijuana_program_should_get_hug.html

Murphy makes medical marijuana legit. Here's what needs to happen next | Editorial
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/03/new_jersey_has_a_medical_marijuana_program_for_rea.html

New Jersey Adds Five New Medical Marijuana Conditions, Reduces Patient Fee
http://theafricom.com/2018/03/29/new-jersey-adds-five-new-medical-marijuana-conditions.html

Marijuana legalization could help offset opioid epidemic, studies find
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/04/02/health/medical-cannabis-law-opioid-prescription-study/index.html

Why These 3 Marijuana Stocks Are Poised For a Big Week
https://www.potnetwork.com/news/why-these-3-marijuana-stocks-are-poised-big-week


Below is Paul Armantano’s guest column submission to the Asbury Park Press in response to the March 8, 2018 editorial (“NJ marijuana legalization: Take a sober look at legal weed”):
https://www.app.com/story/opinion/editorials/2018/03/08/nj-marijuana-legalization-legal-weed/407986002/

For those interested in the source materials/citations for these studies and related papers, these fact-sheets address these and related issues in further details:

http://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets

http://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/item/marijuana-regulation-impact-on-health-safety-economy

http://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/item/relationship-between-marijuana-and-opioids

http://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/item/marijuana-regulation-and-teen-use-rates

http://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/item/marijuana-regulation-and-crime-rates

http://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/item/societal-impacts-of-cannabis-dispensaries-retailers

http://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/item/marijuana-legalization-and-impact-on-the-workplace


When It Comes To Legalizing Cannabis — You Have Questions, We Have Answers

by Paul Armentano

Editors pose several valid questions with regard to adult use marijuana regulation and its effects on public safety (“NJ marijuana legalization: Take a sober look at legal weed,” March 8). Specifically, they inquire about the impact of these regulations on teen use, traffic safety, and economic revenue. Fortunately, we have ample data from other jurisdictions that provide answers to these questions.

ADOLESCENT USE

Writing in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Boston University scientists conclude, "We can state with some confidence that, even in states that have enacted marijuana liberalization policies, marijuana use among adolescents is not currently increasing. In fact, there is rather compelling evidence that adolescent marijuana use has steadily declined.” Specifically, in Colorado, "For adults and adolescents, past-month marijuana use has not changed since legalization either in terms of the number of people using or the frequency of use among users. Based on the most comprehensive data available, past month marijuana use among Colorado adolescents is nearly identical to the national average.” So concluded the Colorado Department of Public Health in 2017. According to the Oregon Health Authority, "Recent trends in youth use have been stable.” In Washington, according to data released last year by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, rates of current marijuana use and lifetime marijuana use have fallen among young people post-legalization. These declines were most pronounced among 8th and 10th graders. Researchers concluded: "We found no evidence that I-502 enactment, on the whole, affected cannabis abuse treatment admissions. ... [and] we found no evidence that the amount of legal cannabis sales affected youth substance use or attitudes about cannabis or drug-related criminal convictions.”

TRAFFIC SAFETY

Data from states that have liberalized marijuana’s legal status show no uptick in motor vehicle crashes. Writing in the August 2017 edition of The American Journal of Public Health, University of Texas researchers compared traffic crash data in the three years  prior to the enactment of adult use legalization in Colorado and Washington versus data trends in the three years immediately following legalization. “We found no significant association between recreational marijuana legalization in Washington and Colorado and subsequent changes in motor vehicle crash fatality rates in the first three years after recreational marijuana legalization,” they concluded. They further reported, “[W]e also found no association between recreational marijuana legalization and total crash rates when analyzing available state-reported non-fatal crash statistics.”

Investigators also compared traffic safety trends in Colorado and Washington versus eight control states that had not altered their marijuana laws. They concluded, “[C]hanges in motor vehicle crash fatality rates for Washington and Colorado were not statistically different from those in similar states without creational marijuana legalization.”

TAX REVENUE

Adults use regulatory schemes are associated with increased tax revenue and job creation. A 2017 state by state analysis by content provider Leafly.com identified 149,304 full-time jobs in the legal cannabis sector. According to data compiled by ZipRecruiter.com, the total number of industry job posts increased by 445% in 2017. Year over year growth of job posts in the cannabis industry is outpacing both tech (254% growth) and healthcare (70% growth). In Colorado, cannabis-specific taxes and fees have yielded $506,143,635 in state revenue since January 1, 2014 — a total that well exceeds initial projections. Cannabis sales in Washington state continue to grow at a steady rate, with total 2017 sales topping $1.1 billion at the end of September. In October, Nevada's recreational marijuana industry hit a new high, selling more than $37.9 million that month alone. The state has earned nearly $20 million in marijuana tax revenue since the adult-use market launched in July, according to Forbes Magazine.


Real world experience from other states indicate that cannabis use and sales can be regulated in a manner that increase revenue while also promoting social justice and public safety. State lawmakers should welcome the opportunity to bring necessary and long overdue controls to the marijuana market. A pragmatic framework regulating adult use, but that continues to restrict marijuana use and access by young people, best reduces the risks associated with the plant's misuse. By contrast, advocating for the marijuana’s continued criminalization only compounds them.

Regards,

Paul Armentano
NORML Deputy Director
paul@norml.org



Assembly Health Committee Testimony Re: Substitute A3437


March 25, 2018 (Revised testimony)

Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee
State House Annex, Trenton, New Jersey
March 22, 2018

Re:  Substitute A3437:  Revisions to the “Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act,” P.L.2009, c.307 44 (C.24:6I-1 et al.)

My name is Ken Wolski. I have practiced as an RN in NJ and PA for over 40 years. I am executive director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana –New Jersey (CMMNJ), a nonprofit organization I co-founded 15 years ago.

The testimony I originally submitted to this committee was in opposition to A3437. However, after reviewing Substitute A3437, available on the day of the committee meeting, I want to change my testimony to support this bill, though with some concerns and recommendations.

The overarching concerns of our educational organization are:
access to the program;
availability of strains;
cost of the product; and,
artificially low limits/month.

Substitute A3437 substitute has a number of good recommendations. It would:
allow physicians to determine the need for medical marijuana;
make the physician registry voluntary, not mandatory for physicians to recommend medical marijuana;
eliminate the psychiatrist requirement for minors to access the Medicinal Marijuana Program (MMP), but keep the pediatrician requirement;
authorize edibles in various forms and instruct the New Jersey Department of Health  (DOH) commissioner to set limits on edibles;
do away with the previous administration’s requirement that edibles are only for minors;
mandate that 15% of new dispensaries would go to businesses that are run by minorities, women, veterans and/or disabled veterans;
increase the allowable amount of marijuana dispensed from two to four ounces; and,
reduce fees for ID cards from $200, with a $20 discount rate, to $50 with a $10 discount rate for patients on government assistance.

A main thrust of Substitute A3437 is to change the nature of future Alternative Treatment Centers (ATCs) into cultivation/processor centers and dispensary centers.

Substitute A3437 would allow six (6) additional cultivation/processors added to the five existing ATCs (soon to be six) in each region of the state (Northern, Central and Southern regions), for a total of 12. These 12 cultivation/processors would furnish marijuana products to 40 dispensaries in the three regions of the state.

This represents a reasonable and conservative approach to expand the MMP. Doubling the number of cultivation/processors should help MMP patients who regularly complain that the existing ATCs run out of particular strains of marijuana that are most effective in controlling the symptoms of their serious medical conditions.

The primary purpose of the MMP is to meet the needs of patients. Currently, patients in New Jersey pay the highest prices in the nation for their medicinal marijuana. Simply expanding the outlets where they can pay these prices is not doing any service to the patients. Vigorous competition that allows for market forces to influence pricing should bring the out-of-pocket expenses of the MMP patients down to more reasonable levels. Hopefully, Substitute A3437 will stimulate price reductions for MMP patients.

A home cultivation provision for MMP patients is the ideal solution to both availability and affordability of therapeutic strains of marijuana, but this provision is lacking from Substitute A3437.

Substitute A3437 creates a new “total amount of usable marijuana that a patient may be dispensed, in weight, in a 30-day period, which amount shall not exceed four ounces.” The addition of two ounces per month to the current amount allowed is appreciated, but it will also be inadequate for some patients. Marijuana therapy is highly individualized. The actual amount allowed each month should be what the recommending physician deems necessary to control the symptoms of the patient.

Substitute A3437 still requires patients to be seen every 30/60/90 days by a physician simply for renewal of their marijuana recommendation.  Some patients’ underlying condition(s) will never go away. They should not have to be seen so frequently. Yearly visits should be adequate, unless the patient is a minor.

Some of these recommendations in Substitute A3437 are not necessary to be included in legislation. The DOH plans to release its report improving access to the MMP very soon and it will presumably make significant changes by regulation.  A new administration that looks favorably upon the MMP is more likely to expand the program as needed without revisiting legislation. The DOH may well:
add to the MMP the 43 petitions that were recommended be approved by the DOH Review Panel, and may allow individual physicians to determine future conditions that qualify for marijuana therapy;
allow any New Jersey licensed physician with prescription privileges to recommend medical marijuana, and make the Physician Registry voluntary;
reduce the fees for MMP ID cards; and,
evaluate whether there are sufficient numbers of alternative treatment centers to meet the needs of registered qualifying patients throughout the State and make its own recommendations for expanding the MMP since, according to the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, the Commissioner of the DOH is empowered to do this:
“The (DOH) shall seek to ensure the availability of a sufficient number of alternative treatment centers throughout the State, pursuant to need…and centers subsequently issued permits may be nonprofit or for-profit entities.”

While we have some concerns about the proposed bill, and would like to see a number of other provisions added to the bill (see below), the Coalition for Medical Marijuana—New Jersey, Inc. supports Substitute A3437.

CMMNJ’s recommended additions to the Substitute A3437:

Allow any licensed healthcare professional with prescription privileges, including Advanced Practice Nurses, Dentists, and Veterinarians, to recommend medical marijuana;
Mandate education on the Endocannabinoid System for all healthcare professionals in NJ who have prescription privileges;
Recognize out-of-state ID cards now that 30 states have medical marijuana programs including NY, PA, DE, etc.;
Adopt “Patient Focused Certification” in order to bring national standards to every aspect of the MMP (testing, etc.) through Quality Assurance audits using the industry’s best technical experts, (currently used in DE & MD): https://safeaccess2.org/patientfocusedcertification//
Require ongoing, documented training for all state, county and local Law Enforcement Officers on the MMP (OAG Guidelines posted on the DOH website is not adequate training);
Have the DOH develop complete dosing and administration guidelines for standardized medical marijuana products (including information on expected effects, side effects, adverse effects, etc.); See: “Medicinal cannabis: Rational guidelines for dosing:”  https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/582a/efb5bfa326fdba0affc23e343151e02aa903.pdf
Allow edible medical marijuana products for qualified patients in all state institutions to improve care and reduce healthcare costs (including lawsuit avoidance)—allow institutional physicians to recommend, and nurses to administer, medical marijuana after appropriate training, and then conduct case studies on patients receiving this treatment;
Deschedule marijuana in New Jersey;
Include explicit employee workplace protections for MMP patients:
Evaluate the effectiveness of state mandated policies and procedures for the administration of medical marijuana at schools and facilities for the developmentally disabled throughout NJ, amend these policies as needed, and extend these policies to include colleges and universities in NJ; and,
Restore home cultivation of 6 (six) plants for qualified patients with an MMP ID card (this provision was originally approved by the NJ Senate on 2/23/09).

Respectfully submitted,


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

CMMNJ's Regulatory and Legislative Recommendations


Regulatory and Legislative Recommendations for the
New Jersey Medicinal Marijuana Program (MMP)

Regulatory Recommendations:

1. Allow any New Jersey licensed physician with prescription privileges to recommend medical marijuana;
2. Make the Physician Registry voluntary, to serve as a patient resource, not as a requirement for physician participation in the MMP;
3. Add to the MMP the 43 petitions that were recommended be approved by the Department of Health (DOH) Review Panel;
4. Allow additional qualifying conditions to be decided in the privacy of the prescriber-patient relationship;
5. Mandate education on the Endocannabinoid System for all healthcare professionals in NJ who have prescription privileges, based on anticipated expansion of qualifying conditions for marijuana therapy, and on anticipated legalization of adult use;
6. Have the DOH develop complete dosing and administration guidelines for standardized medical marijuana products (including information on expected effects, side effects, adverse effects, etc.); See: “Medicinal cannabis: Rational guidelines for dosing” https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/582a/efb5bfa326fdba0affc23e343151e02aa903.pdf
7. Allow edible medical marijuana products for qualified patients in all state institutions to improve care and reduce healthcare costs--allow institutional physicians to recommend, and nurses to administer, medical marijuana after appropriate training and then conduct case studies on patients receiving treatment;
8. Reschedule/deschedule marijuana in NJ (Director of Division of Consumer Affairs, Office of Attorney General);
9. Eliminate fee for caregiver ID card;
10. Evaluate effectiveness of mandated policies and procedures for the administration of medical marijuana at schools and facilities for the developmentally disabled throughout NJ, modify the policies as necessary, and extend these policies to include colleges and universities in NJ;
11. Eliminate the requirement for psychiatric clearance for minors and require only one MD to recommend medical marijuana for minors;
12. Cancel the 7% tax on medical marijuana which is in violation of the New Jersey Division of Taxation’s Technical Bulletin issued 2/16/10 that notes, “Effective October 1, 2005, all drugs for human use, including prescribed drugs and over-the-counter drugs are exempt from sales and use tax.”  http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/pdf/pubs/tb/tb63.pdf
13. Establish medical marijuana discounts for veterans.

Legislative Recommendations:

1. Increase the 2 ounce limit per patient per month (medical cannabis use is individualized for patient and medical condition, so there should be no upper limit to what a patient can have—dosage should be based on patient need and method(s) of administration);
2. Restore home cultivation of 6 (six) plants for qualified patients with a NJ MMP ID card (which was approved by the NJ Senate on 2/23/09);
3. Allow any licensed healthcare professional with prescription privileges to recommend medical marijuana, including Advanced Practice Nurses, Dentists, and Veterinarians;
4. Recognize out-of-state ID cards now that 30 states have medical marijuana programs including NY, PA, DE, etc.;
5. Allow patients to obtain medical marijuana from out-of-state, if necessary, while NJ increases supply to meet increased demand;
6. Decriminalize marijuana as soon as possible to protect potential medical patients from arrest and criminal charges for the possession and use of small amounts of marijuana;
7. Do not allow adult use (legalization) legislation to infringe on any current rights of medical marijuana patients;
8. Allow for the use of cannabis as a first line treatment rather than a treatment of last resort--amend CUMMA C.24:6I-3 Definition of “Debilitating medical condition” (1) delete “if resistant to conventional medical treatment”;
9. Pass into law S997 which requires registered qualifying patient's authorized use of medical marijuana to be considered equivalent to use of any other prescribed medication--this prohibits restrictions on patients receiving organ transplants based on marijuana use;
10. Include explicit employee workplace protections--pass into law A1838 which establishes protection from adverse employment action for authorized medical marijuana patients;
11. Pass A1856 "Children's Caregivers Act" which revises requirements for primary caregivers for medical marijuana patients who are minors;
12. Permit any edible form of marijuana for any age and establish dosage units for all forms (repeal prohibition on edibles for adults—only minors are currently allowed edibles);
13. Require initial and ongoing training for all state, county and local Law Enforcement Officers on the medical marijuana program (OAG Guidelines posted on the DOH website is not adequate training);
14. Adopt “Patient Focused Certification” in order to bring national standards to every aspect of the MMP (testing, etc.) through Quality Assurance audits using the industry’s best technical experts, (currently used in DE & MD): https://safeaccess2.org/patientfocusedcertification//

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

February 23, 2018