July 10, 2018 Public Meeting Agenda & June Minutes

Monthly Public Meeting Agenda 
Lawrence Township Library, Room #3 
Tuesday, July 10, 2018 7:00 PM -- 9:00 PM

Approve June 2018 minutes. Discuss:

NJ DOH MMP proposed regulations: Submit written comments by regular mail postmarked by 8/17/18, or electronically by 8/17/18 to http://www.nj.gov/health/legal/ecomments.shtml.

NJ MMP has over 25,000 patients registered so far; Harmony ATC opened 6/18 in Secaucus, NJ. CMMNJ met with DOH Asst.Commissioner Jeff Brown; DOH Newsletter Health Matters features NJ MMP.

No response from the BME to Gov. Murphy’s Executive Order #6 (email sent to BME 7/3). E.O. #6 Report: https://www.state.nj.us/health/medicalmarijuana/documents/EO6Report_Final.pdf

Call in to OAG re: results of marijuana rescheduling hearings 4/19/18, Newark & 4/24/18 Trenton.

NJ Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee: CMMNJ testified in support of legalizing marijuana for adults in NJ on 3/5/18 and 4/21/18 and 5/12/18. Email sent 7/3 for results.

What will NJ legalization bill look like? S830/A1348/A3819; A3581; A1557; S2703; S2702 (combination) & medical marijuana expansion bills: S1955 (Jake Honig's Law) and several others.

Recent events: Trenton Cannabis Meeting 6/6/18—radio interview with Jacque Pierre Howard; New Trenton mayor, Reed Gusciora, is NJ’s legislative champion of marijuana reform.
Opioid Epidemic in NJ: Prevention and Harm Reduction, Douglass College 6/22/18.
Statehouse podcast on the anniversary of Cheryl Miller’s 2003 death, 6/7/18 at 1:11PM.
Roots of Us LLC interviewed Ken Wolski 7/2/18.

Upcoming Events:
The Grassroots Cannabis Forum, 7/7/18, Kennedy Park, Asbury Park 11-2:30 pm.
“Medical Marijuana in New Jersey” Mercer County Library, Ewing Branch, 7/18/18, 7 – 8 pm.
2018 Canna-Bash, Mill Hill Park, Trenton, August 18.
Morristown Green Event, 8/4/18, Morristown, NJ.

Treasury report: Checking: $3810; PayPal: $2642.

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.
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Monthly Public Meeting Minutes 
June 12, 2018

May 2018 minutes approved. Discussion:

NJ Medical Marijuana Program adding over 100 patients/day; over 22,000 patients registered so far.

Marijuana rescheduling/descheduling hearings at OAG: 4/19/18 in Newark and 4/24/18 in Trenton. For CMMNJ testimony, click link. We still await summaries or other results of these hearings.

NJ Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee: CMMNJ testified in support of legalizing marijuana for adults in NJ on 3/5/18, 4/21/18, and 5/12/18. The federal STATES Act was introduced to require the federal government to respect the decisions of states on marijuana legalization.

NJ legalization bill in 2018 legislative session S830; medical marijuana expansion bill: S10, in addition to other bills recently introduced. Bills vary on what they would allow/provide for.

Political Prisoner Ed (NJWeedman) Forchion freed in retrial after spending over one year in jail!

Recent events: Global Marijuana Marches, 5/5/18 in NYC and 200 other cities.
Patients Out of Time conference, “Cannabis: Alleviates Pain, Treats Addiction” Jersey City, 5/10–12/18.
ASA Conference, “End Pain, Not Lives. Make Cannabis an Option,” Washington, D.C., 5/22-25/18.
Garden State Cannabis Consultants TV interview with Ken Wolski.

Upcoming Events: Trenton Cannabis Meeting 6/6/18; Trenton runoff election, 6/12.
“Medical Marijuana in New Jersey” Mercer County Library, Ewing Branch, 7/18/18, 7 – 8 pm.
Statehouse podcast on the anniversary of Cheryl Miller’s 2003 death, 6/7/18 at 1:11PM.
2018 Canna-Bash, Mill Hill Park, Trenton, August 18.
Opioid Epidemic in NJ: Prevention and Harm Reduction, Douglass College 6/22/18, 9 – 11 am.
Leo Bridgewater at Women Grow–Flemington, Lone Eagle Brewery, 6/7/18.
Women’s Cannabis Connection Picnic, last wknd in July, Cranbury.
Hemp Heals, July 28th.
Morristown Green Event, 8/4/18, Morristown, NJ.

Treasury report: Checking: $3545; PayPal: $2642.

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.

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