Pubdate: Tue, 14 Aug 2012
Source: Times, The (Trenton, NJ)
Copyright: 2012 The Times
Contact:  http://www.nj.com/times/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/458

EXCRUCIATING WAIT FOR N.J. MEDICAL MARIJUANA MAY FINALLY BE AT AN
END

Closing in on three years since the Compassionate Use Medical
Marijuana Act was signed into law, New Jersey is finally moving toward
the day when that compassion actually will be expended. Last week, the
state launched the registration process for patients to become
eligible for prescriptions of marijuana to ease their suffering from
conditions such as Lou Gehrig's disease, muscular dystrophy, multiple
sclerosis and cancer.

Any lingering doubt that recreational drug users might be able to
infiltrate the state system should be allayed by the rigors of the
system set out by the state Department of Health.

After one of the 150 physicians registered across the state enrolls a
patient, that patient will have 30 days to submit a photo, name the
dispensary of their choice and produce other information required for
an identification card.

At the moment, the choice of dispensary is limited to the single
facility in operation - the Greenleaf Compassion Center of Montclair,
which is expected to open shortly after Labor Day. It could be
dispensing the medical marijuana to registered patients by the end of
next month.

Another center, in Egg Harbor Township, expects to be in operation by
the end of the year for the convenience of South Jersey patients.

That still leaves four dispensaries, already approved by the state, to
settle on locations. Two of them are slated to set up operations in
central New Jersey, while North Jersey and South Jersey each will get
another facility. The already slow process has been freighted even
further by problems with disorganization, vetting dispensary officials
and town officials reluctant to host an alternative treatment center,
The Star-Ledger has reported.

It's been a long and frustrating process for all involved,
particularly those patients for whom marijuana offers the only relief
from their chronic pain.

Now that the Montclair alternative treatment center is about to open
its doors, we're counting on a smooth rollout of the program.
Mercer-area patients who have registered to use that dispensary will
be able to transfer to the Egg Harbor location once it is up and
running and, eventually, some future facility closer to home in
Central Jersey.

Once municipal officials see how mundane this Montclair operation is,
a business as ordinary as that of the most nondescript pharmacy, we
trust they'll be more willing to open their communities to a similar
venture.

And with a template in place, we urge state officials do their part to
hasten the implementation of these facilities, which are already more
than a year behind schedule.
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MAP posted-by: Matt