NJSNA Supports Insurance Bills for Medical Cannabis

NJSNA Supports Insurance Bills for Medical Cannabis

Judith Schmidt, the Chief Executive Officer of the New Jersey State Nurses Association/Institute for Nursing (NJSNA/IFN) said today that the NJSNA Board supports the following bills to provide insurance coverage for medical cannabis: 

S3799/A5760: Medical cannabis costs to be reimbursed by Senior Gold Prescription Discount Program, Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled (PAAD), Catastrophic Illness in Children Relief Fund, and Criminal Injuries Compensation Act of 1971; and, 

A1708/S3406: Requires workers' compensation, PIP, and health insurance coverage for the medical use of cannabis. 

These bills are currently advancing through Senate and Assembly committees. New Jersey has some of the most expensive medical cannabis in the country, with an ounce of premium buds costing between $400-$500. This makes the medical benefits of cannabis unavailable to many residents who have been impoverished by their illnesses or injuries. We urge New Jersey legislators to support these inroads into insurance coverage, so that the poor can also have access to the therapeutic benefits of cannabis.

When passed into law, these bills will reduce healthcare costs in the state. Cannabis stabilizes multiple conditions in individuals. Greater access to cannabis therapy will result in fewer hospitalizations, fewer surgical procedures, and fewer emergency room visits. Please join with the NJSNA/IFN in support of these bills.

Ken Wolski, RN, MPA
Executive Director, Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc.
219 Woodside Ave., Trenton, NJ 08618
609.394.2137 ohamkrw@aol.com

November 24, 2021

Testimony to the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission 11-9-21

Testimony to the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission

By: Ken Wolski, RN, MPA

Executive Director, Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc.

November 9, 2021

The Commission is interested in hearing the Coalition’s thoughts on the following:

1. How can the Commission best protect public health while allowing for a greater variety of cannabis items?

2. How can food safety requirements work together with cannabis safety regulations?

3. What forms of edibles should or should not be permitted?

4. Are some edibles appropriate for the medicinal cannabis market and not the recreational cannabis market?

5. What important information should consumers and patients be aware of if they are interested in purchasing edible cannabis items?

1. The CRC can best protect public health while allowing for a greater variety of cannabis items by doing exactly what it is doing now--developing regulations for edible cannabis items including the: 

⦁ Production; 

⦁ Testing; 

⦁ Labeling; 

⦁ Packaging; and,

⦁ Distribution of these items.

This will ensure that cannabis items are safely produced, periodically tested for cannabinoid content and contaminants, accurately labeled because of these tests, securely packaged with appropriate warnings, and distributed to adults from licensed vendors. 

The CRC should quickly adopt Dosing and Administration guidelines and promulgate these guidelines to the cannabis consuming community and the healthcare community in order to increase the safety and appropriate use of edible products. In fact, the “Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act" was signed into law over two years ago, requiring these guidelines that have yet to be adopted in New Jersey: 

     “g.    The commission shall establish, by regulation, curricula for health care practitioners…:

     (1)   The curriculum for health care practitioners shall be designed to assist practitioners in counseling patients with regard to the quantity, dosing, and administration of medical cannabis as shall be appropriate to treat the patient’s qualifying medical condition.  Health care practitioners shall complete the curriculum as a condition of authorizing patients for the medical use of cannabis.”

Educational programs on the Endocannabinoid System for medical providers in New Jersey (now including physicians, Advanced Practice Nurses, and Physician Assistants) are required. Dosing and Administration guidelines and Endocannabinoid educational programs are readily available. 

For example, a company called “Cannabis Expertise” offers 2-hour and 4-hour Medical Cannabis educational courses with nationally accredited AMA credits at https://cannabisexpertise.com/. These modules were the basis for healthcare professionals to be certified as recommenders in the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The organization trained healthcare professionals from 38 states and 9 countries. The dosing recommendations in the training have been developed by physicians who kept track of every patient’s profile and reaction to cannabis.

The New Jersey Department of Health’s Executive Order 6 Report on 3/23/2018: 

DEVELOPMENT OF PROVIDER EDUCATION PROGRAM AND DOSING GUIDELINES With the expansion of authorized debilitating conditions, the Department recognizes the need to provide education and guidance to providers. To that end, the Department is exploring the creation of an education program for all physicians, with focus on the endocannabinoid system. The Department plans to leverage the expertise of the Medicinal Marijuana Review Panel to oversee the curriculum development for this program. This education program will serve to create best practices for the safe and effective administration of medicinal marijuana to the expanded universe of qualifying patients. In conjunction with the provider education program, there is also a need to develop standardized dosing and administrative protocols for medicinal marijuana products, including information on expected effects, side effects, and adverse effects. In addition to the provider education component above, the Department will charge the Medicinal Marijuana Review Panel, in an advisory role, to oversee the study of the efficacy of medicinal marijuana in treating New Jersey Medicinal Marijuana Program patients. This research will inform dosing and administration protocols to create best practices and improve health outcomes for qualifying patients. The Department believes that this refocusing of the Medicinal Marijuana Review Panel will make the best use of the expertise that the Panel provides to create best practices to inform health care providers and improve health outcomes for qualifying patients. https://www.state.nj.us/health/medicalmarijuana/documents/EO6Report_Final.pdf

Marijuana is mainstream medicine. The Medical Cannabis program in New Jersey is expanding rapidly, and the adult use industry will soon expose even more residents to the therapeutic benefits of cannabis. As more and more people experience these benefits, health care professionals in the state must become comfortable incorporating cannabis use into the therapeutic regimens of their patients. This can be done most efficiently by requiring education on the Endocannabinoid System for all health care professionals in the state of New Jersey as a condition for continued licensure in the state.

The Jake Honig Act also called for “Institutional caregivers” in the state. These caregivers are employees of a health care facility who are authorized to assist registered qualifying patients, who are patients or residents of the facility, with the medical use of cannabis, including obtaining medical cannabis and assisting these patients with the administration of medical cannabis. Currently, most health care facilities forbid the use of medical cannabis in the facility. This is a dangerous and potentially fatal situation. A patient who suffers from seizures may be admitted to a health care facility and then denied access to the only medicine that controls their seizures--medical cannabis. I was part of a team that tried unsuccessfully to save a patient in Status Epilepticus, an unrelenting seizure condition, at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital in the early 1970’s. It was a tragic experience that I have never forgotten. It should not happen again.

In addition to the expanding medical cannabis program and the anticipated increase in cannabis users through the adult use program, it is my sincere hope that the state will recognize its responsibility to the institutionalized patients in New Jersey. For 25 years, I have worked as a registered nurse (RN) in the state prison system and at a state psychiatric hospital. I know that many patients in these institutions qualify for medical cannabis and could benefit greatly from it. The staff there is already trained to administer, account for, and evaluate the effect of controlled substances. There is no reason to withhold this important medical therapy from these patients. In fact, courts have determined that inmates are entitled to “community standards” of healthcare. Edible medical cannabis products will improve health care in state institutions, group homes, hospices, etc., and will reduce the costs of running these programs.

2. Cannabis safety regulations must work in conjunction with food safety requirements to ensure consumer safety in using edible cannabis products. 

According to the NJ Department of Health: 

A person or entity that engages in the production, distribution, and/or sale of food to consumers shall:

1. Have a Cottage Food Operator Permit; or

2. Comply with applicable laws to retail food establishments.

https://www.nj.gov/health/ceohs/phfpp/retailfood/cottagefood.shtml#cfo1

The Food Innovation Center at Rutgers University supports established early-stage entrepreneurs and existing food companies from concept to commercialization. For more information, see: https://foodinnovation.rutgers.edu/

Additionally, the sale of edible cannabis products should require a license from the CRC to ensure compliance with production, testing, labeling, packaging, and distribution regulations.

3. Any form of edibles should be permitted as long as the regulatory procedures are followed in terms of their safe production, periodic testing, accurate labelling, secure packaging, and appropriate distribution. There should be no arbitrary exclusions placed on cannabis products.

Marijuana therapy is highly individualized. The amount that is used each day is determined by what is necessary to control the symptoms of the patient. Anything that patients need should be available to them. This includes a wide variety of edible products. 

Edibles are especially important for patients. Some patients simply cannot use inhaled types of cannabis either because of their medical conditions, or because of their living conditions.

The State of New Jersey has determined that cannabis has medically beneficial uses. It needs to be liberally available to those who are suffering due to lack of access to it. 

Dietary restrictions should also be taken into consideration for edible items. For example, sugarless products should be available (and not necessarily with a "sugar-free" sweetener alternative). Vegan products and hypoallergenic dietary edibles should also be available.

Public health and public safety can be improved by making the widest possible variety of products, including all potencies, legally available to patients who require them. This will diminish reliance on the unregulated market.

4. Edible products that are appropriate for the medicinal cannabis market are also appropriate for the recreational cannabis market.

Public safety can be improved not by banning edibles and other high potency products from the adult use markets, but by regulating the use of these products.

These are products that many New Jersey residents already want and use for their health and happiness. 

Many so-called recreational, or adult users experience medical benefit from cannabis products for undiagnosed or untreated conditions. Patients without health insurance may not be able to afford access to most American health care, including psychiatric care. Other patients may be on the spectrum of some disorder—Anxiety, PTSD, etc.--that negatively impacts the quality of their lives but does not rise to the level of a diagnosable condition. These patients know that cannabis can improve their quality of life, without them technically being considered medical marijuana patients. 

Edible and other high potency products are already in common use in the state. To ban them only recreates the very marijuana prohibition that voters overwhelmingly rejected in the November 2020 election.

To deter the unregulated market, the legal market should have all the products the black market does. Ideally, NJ residents should have access to the whole plant, full spectrum concentrates, the leaves, roots, and raw cannabinoids, all of which are used medicinally.

5. Important information that consumers and patients should be aware of when purchasing edible cannabis items include: 

⦁ Total dosage of THC per package; 

⦁ Strength of THC per unit dosage; 

⦁ Special dietary contents if included (e.g., sugar-free, vegan, hypoallergenic); 

⦁ Expiration date and storage recommendations; and,

⦁ Warning that the package contains cannabis (See https://www.dfcr.org/universal-cannabis-symbol); 

Thank you for the opportunity to address this commission. I would like to congratulate the CRC for the mission that it has taken on, to create this new cannabis industry in the state with social justice at its core. I want to acknowledge the progress you have made in fulfilling this mission and note that you are doing all this while managing the Medical Cannabis Program.

Having worked in NJ state government for 25 years, I am aware of some of the challenges that you face.

I would also like to congratulate Phil Murphy on his reelection as governor of New Jersey. I'm confident that we can look forward to four more years of continued cannabis reform in this state, and that means a great deal to me and to all the people in New Jersey.

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

http://cmmnj.blogspot.com/

November 9, 2021

CMMNJ Monthly Meeting Agenda for November 9, 2021 at 7 pm

CMMNJ Monthly Meeting Agenda for Nov. 9, 2021 at 7 pm

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88573601556?pwd=bHZJbVQ1eXNvc0JENktJNklWcnNLdz09

Meeting ID: 885 7360 1556

Passcode: 717193

Agenda: 

NJ gubernatorial election: Incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy made cannabis legalization a key part of his platform when he first ran in 2017. Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli has said he supports decriminalization but not legalization. Ciattarelli believes that NJ voters were misled on the marijuana referendum. May the best man win.

NJ Medicinal Marijuana/Cannabis Program:

Insurance coverage bills for medical cannabis: 

S3799/A5760: Medical cannabis costs to be reimbursed by Senior Gold Prescription Discount Program, Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled (PAAD), Catastrophic Illness in Children Relief Fund, and Criminal Injuries Compensation Act of 1971. Both bills advanced through Senate & Assembly Health Committees and were referred to Budget and Appropriations Committees. Take action with NORML!

A1708/S3406: Requires workers' compensation, PIP, and health insurance coverage for the medical use of cannabis. Passed in Assembly Committees; in Senate Commerce Committee. Take action with NORML!

Home cultivation for patients:

Governor Murphy says he’s open to giving adults the right to cultivate marijuana for personal use.

Legal weed is real in NJ — but so should be home cultivation | Opinion

• A5363/S3420 legalizes cultivation of eight medical cannabis plants.
• S3407/A5435 legalizes cultivation of six plants for any NJ adult. 
• S3582/A5552 legalizes cultivation of six plants for personal use, and 10 plants for medical use.

Sign the petition: Let Patients Grow NJ; Website: Let Patients Grow NJ #JeffsLaw.

The Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC): 

Physician assistants (PAs) and advanced practice nurses (APNs) are now eligible to enroll patients in the medical cannabis program and write recommendations for it the CRC announced on 10/8/21. PAs and APNs must be licensed and in good standing and must have a physical practice located in NJ. Currently, there are 1,311 doctors who can authorize patients to use medical cannabis. The state has more than 117,000 registered patients and 23 open dispensaries.

The CRC voted on 10/15/21 to issue 10 new licenses for medical marijuana cultivators and four new licenses for vertically integrated businesses, which grow, manufacture and sell medical marijuana at dispensaries. 

NJ CRC Holds Webinar for Budding Adult-use Cannabis Entrepreneurs

Hillview Med won a cultivator license in the 2019 medical cannabis license Request for Application (RFA). They are poised to be the first solo medical cannabis cultivator in New Jersey to open. CMMNJ has accepted a seat on Hillview’s Patient Advocacy Board.

Possessing marijuana is legal in N.J. but these ‘gray’ market operators got busted: CMMNJ said it “does not condone illegal activity, even as we recognize and respect civil disobedience in the face of unjust laws.”

The Lantern has launched the New Jersey Cannabis Project, an incubator in NJ to assist Social Equity applicants with the skills, resources, and knowledge to succeed in the industry.

The New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association said the state’s alternative treatment centers have enough cannabis to meet both patient demand and that of a 21-and-older market. The CRC will set a start date for legal sales, and has a statutory deadline of mid-February to do so. But there’s speculation they might miss it — the CRC missed a deadline to start accepting applications for new cannabis business licenses last month.

‘Big cannabis can be good cannabis’: Q&A with Curaleaf CEO Joe Bayern

Upcoming CRC Meetings:

• November 9, 2021 at 6p.m.
• December 7, 2021 at 6p.m.

The six kinds of personal-use cannabis business licenses that will be available:

1. Cultivator
2. Manufacturer
3. Distributor
4. Delivery
5. Retailer
6. Wholesaler

Ten Things You Can Do to Prepare for the Upcoming Release of New Jersey Recreational Cannabis License Applications

Expungement of Certain Marijuana or Hashish Cases: How to file a Motion with the Court to Review Your Case; FAQs.

Procedures for Requests for Judicial Review of Certain Marijuana Cases 

The New Jersey Judiciary has expunged more than 362,000 marijuana cases from court records since the Marijuana Decriminalization Law became effective July 1.

National: 

The New York Cannabis Control Board advanced regulations on 10/21/21 allowing medical cannabis to be grown at home. After a 60-day comment period, it will go into effect. 

The legal Marijuana Market size was valued at $20.73B in 2020 and is projected to reach $111.31B by 2028, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.43% from 2021 to 2028. The development of medical marijuana as an alternative to traditional medicine and the rise in social acceptance of marijuana are the key factors that have boosted the growth of the Legal Marijuana Market.

Leo Bridgewater, founder of BridgeH20 in Trenton said, “Not having access to SAFE Banking is equivalent to having both of our hands tied behind our back.” U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, the leader in the fight to end the federal ban on cannabis, insists that it be done in combination with social justice provisions to help the individuals and communities ravaged by the war on drugs. 

The Maryland Medical Cannabis Program has a survey for seniors 65 years and older to complete to ensure that the educational content developed meets their needs. Just click, and it should take about 3-5 minutes:  CannabizMD Survey.

Upcoming Events: 

NJ Cannabis Insider: Career Fair & Business Expo Nov. 17 at Stockton U.

The 25th Anniversary of Prop. 215 conference, San Francisco, November 5.

CMMNJ's table at the New Brunswick train station. Volunteers needed to help, mornings Mon., Tues. and Wed. through December.

Recent Events: 

The Library of New Jersey Inc. Expungement Clinic, West Orange, 11/23/21.

Rally at Philadelphia City Hall to mark seven years of Philly decrim, 10/20/21. 

The CRC Recreational Cannabis Statewide Webinar, October 13.

Real Cannabis Entrepreneur (RCE) conference held in Newark, 10/15 -16.

NJCBA: Friday Lunch & Learn with cannabis industry leaders. Free. 10/8, Noon. 

Treasury report: 

Checking: $11,148; PayPal: $454. 

Make a tax-deductible donation via PayPal to info@cmmnj.org, or send a check to: 

CMMNJ, 219 Woodside Ave., Trenton, NJ 08618.

Hemp wristbands are available, including wholesale prices. Will your store or dispensary display our colorful, all-hemp bracelets, so patrons can make donations to CMMNJ? We are deeply grateful for all support.

More info: 

Ken Wolski, RN, MPA (609) 394-2137 ohamkrw@aol.com 

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

Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey: http://www.cmmnj.org 

Twitter: @CMM_NJ

CMMNJ blog: https://cmmnj.blogspot.com/

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