Pubdate: Wed, 17 Nov 2010 Source: Sparta Independent, The (NJ) Copyright: 2010 Straus Newspapers Contact: http://www.strausnews.com/sparta_independent/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4455 Author: Becca Tucker Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - U.S.) GROUP AIMS TO GROW MEDICAL MARIJUANA Cannabis Proponents Come Out of the Shadows, Put Heads Together Wantage -- When Prohibition was repealed, mailmen used Mack trucks to haul the applications for liquor licenses over to City Hall. The "green rush" that's about to happen in New Jersey, which recently became the 14th state to legalize medical marijuana, will be on a smaller scale, thanks to a $20,000 price tag for a growers license and a laundry list of restrictions. Darrell Milligan, 38 -- who suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, two torn labrums and constant muscle spasms -- and his fledgling Sussex County nonprofit North Jersey Compassionate Care are determined to secure one of the six state licenses to be issued shortly by the state Department of Health and Senior Services. Eight people, aged 23 to 71, showed up for the group's second meeting, Nov. 3 at the Sussex-Wantage Library. That was five more than showed up to the group's first meeting, a month before. "I'd like to change people's mindsets," said Bill Kleiner, 49, who has Crohn's disease. That's one of the handful of conditions that will qualify a patient for medical marijuana in New Jersey. "We're just looking to not get busted. To use something that will help us and not go to jail. We don't want to deal with drug dealers," he said. Bill's wife Cindy Kleiner, 47, was hit by a dump truck 13 years ago and began having crippling migraines and stomach problems that kept her locked in the house. She is currently taking prescribed Marinol, which is synthetic THC in pill form, but which she said is not very effective. THC is the chemical compound found in marijuana. State Rules The state plans to license four distribution centers and just two growers, according to draft regulations released in October. Of the 14 states that allow medical marijuana, only California, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Maine and New Jersey allow dispensaries to grow and/or sell it. In Sussex, they want to grow. "We're passionate about organic produce. We would love to do that [grow marijuana] in conjunction with growing sprouts," said Cindy Kleiner, who was studying to be a CPA when she was injured and hasn't been able to work since. "I really want to help people, and create for myself a job I can do. I'm excellent with the books; he [Bill] is a grower." Nadine Stevens, 23, is deputy-chair of the organization. "I want to grow marijuana for the state of New Jersey," she proclaimed. Stevens grows organic tomatoes in Wantage and describes herself as an "artist, minister and writer." "I would not consider opening a dispensary under the current rules," said Milligan, who did research for drug company Merck for 11 years before he was laid off in September. There are too many obligations, he said. For instance, dispensaries will have to provide a delivery service, which means hiring drivers. "My interest and the interest of the group is primarily in cultivation." Bumpy Road Ahead New Jersey's medical marijuana program is commonly acknowledged to be the most restrictive in the country. "The law treats marijuana like a pharmaceutical, which in some ways looks really forward. It treats marijuana like medicine more here than it does in any other state," said Chris Goldstein of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey. Assemblyman Herb Conaway, chairman of the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee, has a medical degree. "New Jersey's law had a physician's hand," said Goldstein. "A doctor's language went right into the bill." The fact that it's a completely unique program makes it tough to navigate, and much of the Sussex meeting was devoted to discussing challenges. But the group is used to meeting challenges. Before the program was implemented, Coalition members protested in Trenton every week hoping to pressure the Department of Health to finalize it. Now that it has been partially implemented (patients can now apply with the Department of Health, but would-be cultivators and dispensaries still can't), the coalition wants the state to amend its law to make it less restrictive. Cindy Kleiner testified at a Senate and Assembly hearing Monday, Nov. 8. Here are some of the problems the group has identified. The rules do not allowing edible products. "The problem with that," says Cindy Kleiner, "is that if you smoke marijuana, it lasts an hour and a half to two hours. A medical person would have to keep doing that all day. If you eat it, it stays in your body eight to 12 hours. It's much safer, and a much better way to ingest it." "Physicians are going to be leery" of registering with the Department of Health, worries Bill Kleiner. But that is what they need to do before they can recommend cannabis for their patients. The cost may be prohibitive. Stevens worries that eligible patients won't see enough reason to switch from illegal to legal marijuana. Because it costs $200 to register as a medical marijuana patient, and an additional $200 to register a primary caregiver, on top of the cost of the the marijuana. Medical marijuana sells in other states for $100 an ounce and up. Regulated marijuana may be less potent than what is available on the black market. Growers may have a hard time raising the $20,000 license fee. Additionally, growers will have other business costs, including materials and equipment and a security system. Even for those who do earn a license, there's always a risk the federal government will raid the operation, since medical marijuana is not recognized as legal on a national level. That risk became more serious when New Jersey announced it would have just two growing operations, not six, as originally planned. "They can still do raids on New Jersey farms and take everything a farmer owns," Ed Wengryn, spokesman for the New Jersey Farm Bureau. He was responding to an inquiry from the Advertiser-News about whether farmers had shown interest in growing marijuana. (They're not interested, said Wengryn, because there are too many regulations and "farmers in general like to be left alone to do their own thing.") Out of the Shadows Public perception is a big part of the battle, Ed Hughes, 71, told the Sussex County group. Use the word "re-legalize" instead of "legalize" - -- since cannabis was legal until the 1930s -- and "cannabis" instead of marijuana, which has negative associations, he recommended. Hughes, of Sussex Borough, who started smoking in the 1960s, described himself as a cross between a modern Thomas Paine and Henry David Thoreau, and gave out business cards listing his Web site, which doesn't exist. People see 23-year-old tattoo artist Edmund Fortuna as "just some punk kid who wants to smoke and grow pot," Fortuna said. He knows he is not the best person to spread the message that it's not weed, but prescription pills like OxyContin that are turning kids into drug addicts. Fortuna, a member of the nonprofit's board, encourages adults he knows who have some influence in the community and who use marijuana, to be open about it. "People think, if I stay in the shadows, I'll be all right," Fortuna said. "Why doesn't everyone get together and support each other?" - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake