Pubdate: Wed, 18 Apr 2012
Source: Record, The (Hackensack, NJ)
Copyright: 2012 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.northjersey.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/44

SEEDS OF HOPE

THE PATH toward start-up of New Jersey's medical marijuana law has 
been a slow and painful march, beset by one roadblock after another. 
Already one of the most stringent laws in the nation, the Garden 
State version has been further hindered by Governor Christie, who was 
never excited about its prospects in the first place.

Bureaucratic foot-dragging has dogged the process from Day One, as 
have repeated skirmishes with legislators about how the law should be 
implemented. Extensive paperwork has been thrown in at every turn.

And yet, every now and then, some spot of progress is made. As 
reported Tuesday by Staff Writer Barbara Williams, the Greenleaf 
Compassion Center in Montclair has become the first facility in the 
state to be granted a preliminary permit to grow cannabis, and more 
than 100 physicians have been authorized to prescribe it.

These are small victories, given that the goal of the law - the 
reason for its existence - is to get marijuana to the people who need 
it most, people suffering from terminal cancer, chronic pain and 
glaucoma, and thousands of others who have been forced to wait much 
too long for the law to take effect. As Williams reports, actual 
distribution of medical marijuana to patients is still some months away.

"It took 18 months to get to this point, so I really don't know when 
we're going to be able to dispense it," said Julio Valentin Jr., 
chief operating officer of Greenleaf. The state said in its 
announcement that a patient registry is in the "final stages of 
development" and should be open "in several weeks." All patients must 
be registered and have a prescription to get marijuana from the dispensary.

The Montclair facility is one of six dispensaries scheduled to be set 
up around the state. At least one dispensary has met community 
opposition. And yet the Christie administration has done little to 
help the process along.

We understand the need to get it right the first time, to make sure 
certain regulations are followed. And yet it seems too often like we 
are still debating the merits of the bill, which was signed into law 
more than two years ago.

Indeed, we are well beyond that. The science outlining the palliative 
benefits of medical marijuana is well-established. Furthermore, in a 
Rutgers-Eagleton poll conducted late last year, 86 percent of 
registered New Jersey voters polled approve making medical marijuana 
available by prescription.

So again we implore the Christie administration to speed the process, 
wherever possible, to work with these dispensary operators and give 
the people what was promised with the signing of this law. Those who 
need medical marijuana have waited far too long already.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom