Follow CelebStoner on
Join CelebStoner on
CELEBSTONER POLL
EVENTS CALENDAR
5/22-24 CHAMPS, Atlantic City
6/22-24 Harry's Hoedown, Maine
6/23-24 High Times Med Cup, NoCal
| New Jersey's Medical Pot Regs Are a Joke |
 |
 |
 |
| Chris Goldstein | |
| Thursday, 04 November 2010 17:19 | |
|
The law is already the most limited in the country, with patients allowed only two ounces per month and restricted from home cultivation. Now draft regulations issued by the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) would take the law to new extremes. New Jersey's approach is almost Soviet-style: Imagine a program where just two cultivation centers grow for four to eight distribution centers that serve the entire state’s patient population. Now limit the growing to just three cannabis strains and the THC content to below 10%. Patients will register with the state to carry a special photo ID, but only after declaring that they are aware of the “potentially addictive qualities” of marijuana. Another innovative New Jersey restriction is requiring doctors to be part of a special registry as well. The Alternative Treatment Centers (ATC) would be barred from selling any food or drink (no edibles). The distribution ATCs are restricted to selling only raw plant material, lozenges or topical creams. On the surface, it looks like the program is being designed to fail. Using California as a whipping post, New Jersey is seeking (and seems to be getting) absolute control over the marijuana program far beyond any pharmaceutical model. The Christie Administration’s political interpretation of the law, some selective science and strong interest by high-dollar medical industry groups may result in the nation’s first corporate medical cannabis. October was a busy month as officials reached towards the January 2011 deadline for getting the law into practice. Patients and advocates are in a timed fight for a more realistic program. The sponsoring legislators, Senator Nicholas Scutari and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, say the regulations are outside of the law’s intent. They're pushing forward resolutions in Trenton invoking the state constitution in an attempt to force a re-write.
Comments (2)
2
Saturday, 06 November 2010 16:59
skankieman
whatahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
1
Saturday, 06 November 2010 04:23
Medicinal Mike
I'm a cardholder up here in Canada, where our system is a federal based set of regulations. I'm in kind of the same spot as your ill people, waiting. I got my card last year to possess and to grow. I quickly found out I would not be able to grow enough medicine in my home and used the option to designate someone else to grow for me. There were delays of several months for one set of papers and then the security check was delayed even more. My grower finally got the authority to grow and had the plants growing for about 2 months when my current card expired (but I already had the paperwork in to Health Canada) due to the timing of the first delays. They were forced to rip out all the just-started plants, yet when I finally get my card it will be back dated to the day after the last expired. That means ALL the crap I went through and all the hoops I and my grower jump through were not only a waste of time and money, but it also causes a lot of anger and infighting. I think Dictator Harper planned it this way. The laws that will finally come out after a few decades of it being legal will be much fairer, but for now, people are running on fear. That sucks for you guys and that has an impact up here. We're also disappointed about California, which may have helped your cause. Free Marc Emery and he will kick butt!
|
