Pubdate: Sun, 08 Sep 2013
Source: Times, The (Trenton, NJ)
Copyright: 2013 The Times
Contact:  http://www.nj.com/times/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/458
Author: Mike Davis

'MAN, I'M NOT THAT HIGH': N.J. WEEDMAN TALKS THE POLITICS OF POT

BURLINGTON -- Public ridicule was once the norm for Ed Forchion.

When the "N.J. Weedman" was arrested after smoking a joint in a state 
Assembly meeting, he was ridiculed. And when Forchion tried to 
legally change his name to "NJWeedman.com," it was written off as a 
publicity stunt.

After nearly 20 years of activism, New Jersey's best-known marijuana 
activist - at the very least, its loudest - hasn't changed, even as 
attitudes toward marijuana have shifted.

New Jersey has created a regulated, albeit struggling, medical 
marijuana program, and last year Colorado and Washington legalized 
recreational marijuana for residents over 21, with restrictions 
similar to the sale and consumption of alcohol. Last week the U.S. 
Department of Justice said it will not challenge the new laws.

Forchion, it seems, now has public opinion on his side.

"Before, we had to rely on D.A.R.E. officers and the whole government 
spiel about saying 'No' to drugs," Forchion said in an interview last 
month. "We were in the minority before, but we're in the majority now."

Over time Forchion has become a more passive activist. Most recently 
living in Sicklerville, he attends legalization rallies and 
festivals, where he's treated like a minor celebrity, but the days of 
civil disobedience are behind him.

"I don't do protests anymore," Forchion said. "I attend them, but I 
don't engage. They wiped me out."

The N.J. Weedman of today simply doesn't want to go to jail again.

Instead, Forchion has turned his attention to helping other smokers 
fight criminal charges by promoting the idea of jury nullification, 
in which defendants convince juries to reframe a drug case by casting 
suspicion on the drug laws themselves.

"Jury nullification is how to break the war on drugs, or the war on 
marijuana at least," Forchion said. "You have to take it to trial and 
argue that the law's wrong, not you. Public opinion is there. I could 
walk into a church and talk about marijuana and people would agree with me."

Forchion said the strategy worked in his 2000 trial, when he was 
arrested for transporting a "big shipment" of marijuana from Arizona 
to New Jersey.

"You can call me a drug dealer but, technically, I was a smuggler," 
Forchion said.

While preparing for the trial, Forchion embraced the N.J. Weedman 
nickname as a way to ingratiate himself with the jury. During his 
testimony, one juror cried and others nodded, shook their heads and 
smiled, he said.

Still, when the opportunity for a plea deal came along with a three- 
to six-month prison term, Forchion jumped at the chance.

"I always regretted that deal. Sometimes they say I was trying to 
pollute the jury, but I was just trying to inform them of my 
positions and my thoughts," Forchion said. "I really wanted the jury 
to say, 'Not guilty.'"

The judge allowed Forchion to poll the jury and the results are 
burned into his brain:

Five jurors would have declared him not guilty. The jury would have been hung.

"They were leaning towards me, and my plan for jury nullification was 
working," Forchion said. "But the prosecutors offered me a bribe, and 
I took it. I was mad for 10 years."

N.J. BROKE MAN

In 2001, Forchion was diagnosed with a rare illness when doctors 
found giant-cell tumors in his knees and shoulders. The tumors are 
non-cancerous but can turn malignant if left untreated. Lacking 
health insurance, Forchion says he cannot afford to have the tumors 
removed and has chosen to mitigate the severe pain with marijuana.

He moved to California in 2007 and registered as a medical marijuana 
patient, eventually opening his own marijuana dispensary shops.

"It's good for stress relief, anxiety, pain relief. There's a study 
that just came out that said marijuana is one of the greatest 
therapeutic substances on the planet. And we've outlawed it," 
Forchion said. "The harms that are done by the marijuana laws to 
society far outweigh the benefits of marijuana. Legalizing it is 
righting a wrong."

In 2010, while back in New Jersey visiting family in his home state, 
Forchion was arrested and charged with possession and intent to 
distribute marijuana. During a motor vehicle stop in Evesham, a 
police officer allegedly found $2,000 in cash and two joints on him.

He was acquitted of the distribution charge in 2012 but convicted of 
a lower-level possession charge. He was sentenced to nine months in 
prison, but failed to report to the probation office and was arrested 
at Philadelphia International Airport shortly before boarding a plane 
to California, where he was scheduled for a cancer treatment.

"If marijuana was legal, I'd be a very successful dude and what 
happened to me would be some sort of court corruption," Forchion 
said. "But it's the politics of pot. Someone didn't like the fact that I won."

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency shut down his shops in California 
soon after the arrests and his dreams of finding a celebrity patron 
to sponsor his legal battles - Forchion mentioned Willie Nelson, the 
folk signer and longtime marijuana activist - have yet to come to fruition.

His finances are bleak - "I'm so broke right now," he said - and his 
only income comes in the form of donations from supporters around the 
globe, he said. Forchion attributed his fan base to his years of 
embracing his nickname.

"People all over the country, when you ask them about New Jersey they 
know Chris Christie and N.J. Weedman," Forchion said. "My name has 
helped me with the cause. Everybody knows N.J. Weedman."

The day after he was interviewed, Forchion flew to California for a 
medical appointment, unsure how he would be able to afford a return ticket.

Forchion estimated he could earn $10,000 or $15,000 in a very short 
period of time if he began dealing marijuana, but said he is 
reluctant because of the risk of another arrest.

New Jersey "would love to put me in a cage," he said. "I'm getting 
older. I'm not trying to fight that game. When you're 25, you think 
you're invincible. I had my arrests. I know I'm not invincible. I 
know I can be beat."

"What would happen if I got arrested? I'd be front page news: 
'(Expletive) Weedman gets busted again!'" Forchion said.

THE PERENNIAL CANDIDATE

For many, the name N.J. Weedman might be most recognizable from the 
inside of the voting booth.

He has run for various public offices every year since 1998. He is 
the sole candidate from the "Legalize Marijuana Party," running this 
year for a spot on the Burlington County freeholder board.

He said his election efforts could help bolster his defense in a 
courtroom, giving him another way to appeal to any potential jurors 
who may have to cast a verdict on him one day.

"This is my way of fighting back and giving the middle finger to 
Democrats and Republicans, to the whole system," he said.

Forchion goes through the motions like any other independent 
candidate, filing forms and gathering signatures from supporters, but 
he's so uninterested in winning that he doesn't even know the names 
of his opponents.

"I'd be happy to just play spoiler, to make sure they take the 
cannabis-consuming community seriously as a voting bloc, as someone 
they need to cater to and talk to," Forchion said. "If I had money, I 
could make a good run but, since I don't, I'm very comfortable just 
being a protest candidate,"

But does the N.J. Weedman believe he has a shot in this election?

"Man, I'm not that high," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom