The Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey (CMMNJ) fought the delay in implementing the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act and kept the focus on patients. Governor Christie and his administration requested a 6 – 12 month delay. But with the support of the lead sponsor of the bill, Senator Nicholas Scutari, (D-Linden) the legislature agreed to just a 90-day delay. Governor Christie’s spokesman said more time was needed to implement the law correctly.
The Governor’s appointee to Commissioner of the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), Dr. Poonam Alaigh, expressed support for medical marijuana that was wholehearted and unquestioned. Unfortunately, Dr. Alaigh also expressed some fears about cannabis. In an appearance on NJN, Dr. Alaigh feared that New Jersey would devolve into the “wild, wild West of California” where marijuana dispensaries outnumber Starbucks coffee shops. But according to New Jersey’s law, only six (6) Alternative Treatment Centers will initially be permitted to open. The DHSS will grant licenses to these dispensaries, and it has the power to revoke these licenses. The DHSS has the power to monitor, oversee and investigate all activities of these Centers, including the prices that are charged to patients. It is difficult to imagine the basis for the fear of an uncontrolled proliferation of dispensaries in the state, since the DHSS has absolute control over when, and if, additional Centers may open.
A more disturbing development to medical marijuana advocates was the proposal floated by the Christie administration to allow only Rutgers University and the New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals to be the sole producer and distributor of medical marijuana in the state. Advocates were certain that this proposal would only delay, perhaps indefinitely, realistic patient access to medical marijuana in New Jersey.
Gov. Christie’s proposal was unworkable for the following reasons:
1. Rutgers University and the Council of Teaching Hospitals would undoubtedly seek approval from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, and the DEA will never grant that approval. The DEA does not recognize medical marijuana.
2. University and medical center employees would be at risk for federal prosecution and federal subsidies to these institutions would be jeopardized.
3. The head of Rutgers Agricultural School has gone on record as saying that his school is not interested in producing any cash crop, let alone marijuana.
4. Hospitals are not prepared to be marijuana dispensaries. They would have to hire more staff and expand facilities.
5. The proposal appears to corrupt the open, competitive bidding process by steering the state contracts for medical marijuana services to entities favored by highly placed political figures.
6. The law would have to be amended for these changes to be approved, and any amendment will only result in further delays. Every 90 days, 25% of the state’s hospice patients die. These otherwise qualified patients are dying without the relief that marijuana can bring them.
On Friday, July 23, 2010, Rutgers University declined the request from the Christie administration to be the sole producer of New Jersey’s medical marijuana crop. Doing so might jeopardize millions of dollars in federal funding, the dean of the biological school said.
This law does not need any more delays or trial balloons. The state health department will tightly regulate the Alternative Treatment Centers provided for in the law. Highly qualified private citizens stand ready to offer their expertise and take on the risk in order to serve patients. The medical marijuana law should be implemented as it is written without further delay.
Showing posts with label rutgers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rutgers. Show all posts
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
Plan for medical marijuana at hospitals called "pie in the sky"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey (CMMNJ)
www.cmmnj.org
CONTACT: Ken Wolski RN 609 394 2137 ohamkrw@aol.com or Chris Goldstein media@cmmnj.org
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.
The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey (CMMNJ)
www.cmmnj.org
CONTACT: Ken Wolski RN 609 394 2137 ohamkrw@aol.com or Chris Goldstein media@cmmnj.org
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.
CONTACT: Ken Wolski RN 609 394 2137 ohamkrw@aol.com or Chris Goldstein media@cmmnj.org
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.
CONTACT: Ken Wolski RN 609 394 2137 ohamkrw@aol.com or Chris Goldstein media@cmmnj.org
* 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.
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