Pubdate: Thu, 09 Jan 2014
Source: Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
Copyright: 2014 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Contact: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/about/feedback/
Website: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/339
Author: Jason Nark

N.J. WEED ACTIVIST PLANS MOVE TO HIGHER ALTITUDE

THE GRASS ISN'T greener a mile high up in Colorado, but now that it's
legal there, a longtime local marijuana activist is hitting the road
with a heavy heart and heading west.

Diane Fornbacher, 36, of Collingswood, N.J., has been trying to change
marijuana laws since she got busted for possession as a freshman at
Penn State about 18 years ago. Today, Fornbacher's married with two
sons and a station wagon in her driveway, active in her community, she
said, all while serving on the national board of directors for the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, campaigning
for medical marijuana in New Jersey and beyond, and writing about all
things marijuana on her online magazine, Ladybud.

That fight has taken a toll, she said, including a visit from New
Jersey's Department of Children and Families last year over what she
said was her son's mention of hemp in school. So she's moving to
Colorado, where recreational use is legal and retail sales are
booming, to take a job trimming and cultivating plants at the 3D
Cannabis Center in Denver.

"The East Coast isn't just losing a cannabis activist. I'm a community
activist and I don't want to leave," Fornbacher said Tuesday afternoon
inside her home.

In New Jersey, Fornbacher said, the "complex" post-traumatic stress
disorder she suffers from years of abuse as a child doesn't qualify
under the state's strict medical-marijuana laws passed in 2011. "The
law is nowhere near where it should have been. Even if you're on your
deathbed, you still have to jump through flaming hoops," Fornbacher
said. "I fought for a very long time. I need to keep my family safe,
and I don't qualify under the law."

There's a constant fear, Fornbacher said, that she'll lose her kids
and her freedom in New Jersey over a plant she considers to be her
medicine.

"As a parent, I'm afraid to keep it in my house," she
said.

Fornbacher, who was named a "Freedom Fighter" by High Times magazine
in 1999, recently raised $2,000 at GoFundMe.com for relocation costs
and hopes to be settled in Colorado by this spring.

"I'm hoping to be there by 4/20 [April 20]," she said.

Fellow marijuana activist Ed "N.J. Weedman" Forchion also left New
Jersey for a more marijuana-friendly state, California.

"I applaud her," Forchion said of Fornbacher yesterday from
California. "It's just a shame New Jerseyans have to move to be free."

Forchion is serving a staggered jail sentence for possession and
distribution in New Jersey that allows him to leave jail and fly back
to California for medical treatment of tumors.

Some accused Fornbacher of "bailing" on the battle in New Jersey and
Pennsylvania, she said, but fighting for marijuana reform while
raising a family here is too risky.

"I don't want to leave," she said. "I fully intended to raise my kids
here and make a difference."  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D