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." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom