Pubdate: Sat, 30 Apr 2016
Source: Times, The (Trenton, NJ)
Copyright: 2016 The Times
Contact:  http://www.nj.com/times/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/458
Author: Kevin Shea
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/people/Forchion

NJ WEEDMAN'S LONG, STRANGE TRIP AS MARIJUANA ADVOCATE

Robert Edward "Ed" Forchion Jr. created the persona NJ Weedman 
shortly after emerging in the late 1990s on his way to becoming one 
of New Jersey's best known marijuana legalization advocates.

During his two-decades of advocacy for the legalization of marijuana, 
he's been on the front pages of newspapers, in jail cells and 
courtrooms, and he's run for elected office on all levels of government.

Forchion has used marijuana since he was a teen, but in 2001 he says 
he was diagnosed with tumors in his knees and shoulders, which later 
become cancerous. He uses marijuana medically too, he maintains.

For the past year, Forchion has been a restaurant owner in Trenton, 
with NJ Weedman's Joint and its accompanying Liberty Bell Temple - 
which he describes as a "cannabis church."

Here's a look at the Weedman through the years.

The Candidate

Starting in 1998, Forchion runs for elected office often. In 2000, he 
runs for Burlington County freeholder and Congress while dealing with 
a drug charge for shipping 25 pounds of marijuana to New Jersey in 1997.

"Me running for office is just giving other people the opportunity to 
participate in my protest," the 36-year-old says at the time. "I 
would love to get 5,000 or 10,000 people to vote for me. It would be 
a symbolic thing."

Forchion later receives 9,138 votes in the 2005 New Jersey 
gubernatorial election.

In 2014, Forchion sues Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and democratic officials 
in an attempt to make it onto the ballot for an seat in New Jersey's 
Third Congressional District. The effort ends when a federal judge 
dismisses the lawsuit.

The Name Change

In 2004, Forchion loses his bid to legally change his name to NJWeedman.com.

Prosecutors successfully argued the name change would "promote an 
illegal activity."

Forchion continues to use the moniker NJ Weedman.

The Protestor & Public Pot Smoker

In March 2000, Forchion lights up joint in the Statehouse in Trenton 
while dressed in prison garb to protest the "hypocritical" state 
legislature. He's arrested by state troopers.

The ganja herb is a religious sacrament to Rastafari, much as wine is 
for Christians and Catholics, thus state laws make it illegal for him 
to practice his religion, he says on a tour of Trenton newspapers, 
clutching his arrest papers.

For the next 15 years, Forchion freely lights up in public and leads 
numerous public events advocating the decriminalization of marijuana laws.

He lights up three times at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia in 2003 
and 2004, once to kick off a campaign for Congress.

The latest is in November, when he fires up a joint in the Trenton 
City Council Chamber and repeatedly called council members "cowards" 
after a resolution that would have backed the legalization of 
marijuana died on the floor.

The Defendant, 1997 to 2003

In September 2000, Forchion accepts plea bargain for a 10-year state 
prison sentence on the 1997 drug charge. He is freed from prison in 
April 2002 and into the state's intensive parole supervision program.

Forchion is expelled from the program a short time later and 
re-jailed. State authorities said he violated terms of the program by 
filming several public service announcements advocating changes to 
New Jersey's drug laws.

In January 2003 he's freed from the Burlington County jail. A federal 
judge rules that Forchion's booting form the program and 
incarceration denied him free speech protections guaranteed under the 
Constitution's First Amendment.

The Defendant, 2010 to 2015

In 2007, Forchion moves to California and registers as a medical 
marijuana patient, eventually opening his own marijuana dispensary.

While back in New Jersey visiting family in 2010, he's arrested and 
charged with possession and intent to distribute marijuana during a 
motor-vehicle stop in Burlington County.

In 2012, Forchion is acquitted of the distribution charge, but 
convicted of the possession charge. He initially avoids jail when a 
New Jersey judge sentences him to probation, which he is allowed to 
serve in California.

But Forchion fails to report to the probation office - mistakenly 
assuming he could wait until an appeal was filed - and is re-arrested 
for violating probation attached to the conviction.

In September 2013, he's back in New Jersey, and in jail, to start 
serving a staggered 270-day term.

"I'm a marijuana patient and I should be protected under the 
Compassionate Use Act," Forchion says, referring to the state's 
medical marijuana law. "That's the irony: The judge is preventing me 
from getting my treatment."

In January 2014, Forchion is released from the Burlington County jail 
after a judge reconsidered his sentence and decided that he's paid 
his debt to society.

In March 2016, Forchion announces he's filed a petition to the U.S. 
Supreme Court hoping the country's highest court will overturn the conviction.

The Restauranteur, June 2015

Opens NJ Weedman's Joint, which draws a steady stream of customers on 
opening day, with a menu featuring smoothies, soups, salads, 
sandwiches and $4.20 specials.

Forchion proudly displays a backyard garden where he planned to have 
tables and chairs and a fire pit. He wants it to become a venue for 
performers and spoken word artists, but more importantly, a place for 
medical marijuana patients to light up.

Next door, Forchion opens the Liberty Bell Temple, which he ha 
described as a sanctuary and a "cannabis church."

The Defendant, 2016

Forchion, now 51, is arrested April 27, 2016 along with 10 others 
when Trenton police and Mercer County authorities raid his NJ 
Weedman's Joint and the adjacent Liberty Bell Temple.

Authorities say they received complaints about excessive foot traffic 
at all hours and suspicion of marijuana distribution at the 
establishments. The raid followed a two-month investigation.

"I don't care what they do," Forchion said in a Facebook video late 
Thursday from the restaurant, holding a freshly-rolled joint. "I'm 
going to keep going forward."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom