Webster "Dan" Todd Jr., brother of New Jersey's first female governor, Christie Whitman, is now a pioneer in his own right: he sits on the board of one of the first legally-sanctioned medical marijuana providers in the Garden State.

The 72-year-old former Assemblyman said his son, William, is the driving force behind the creation of Compassionate Sciences, Inc., one of six nonprofit agencies the state health department announced Monday would produce and sell the drug later this year. The facility will be run at a location yet to be determined in either Burlington County or Camden County.

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It has been more than a year since medical marijuana was legalized in the state. And yet the deadline for would-be marijuana growers and sellers to apply to the state for a license only arrived last Monday.

Not that it really seems to matter much. Patients still don't have access to the marijuana and the pain relief it offers and will have to continue to wait while lawmakers try to hammer out the rules for implementation. And patients don't even know what it is to which they will have access when the time comes. That's how bogged down this entire process has become.

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Last week, columnist Aaron Applbaum argued that the possession of marijuana should be legalized in the United States. Further, he suggested in passing that even if the government does not heed his call the University should at least modify its own marijuana policy. The editorial board endorses the latter claim. The University should cease its current policy of imposing disciplinary consequences on students found in possession of marijuana in excess of those regulations required by law.

As was well-argued last week, the legal prohibition on marijuana use is simply silly. Marijuana is less addictive and less dangerous to health than both alcohol and tobacco, two commonly used legal drugs; in the absence of prohibitions against those drugs there is no good reason for the government to forbid individuals from using marijuana as well. In general, the University may have a variety of good reasons for enacting regulations that mirror law. Many laws actually do promote health, safety or public order. When a law is as pointless as the marijuana prohibition, however - when the prohibited conduct isn't harmful to individual students or to the University community - the University lacks a good reason to ensure student compliance. There already exist numerous local, state and federal government agencies unnecessarily tasked with regulating marijuana use; the University need not add its name to the list.

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If people are allowed to drive after drinking -- provided their blood-alcohol level is under the legal limit -- then why shouldn't people be allowed to drive after smoking marijuana? That seems to be the question raised by a bill in the Colorado state legislature, which would set a legal limit of under five nanograms per milimeter of THC in a person's bloodstream. As long as a driver's THC-blood level is under five nanograms, he would legally be allowed to drive. While some are in support of the current zero-tolerance policy, we agree with the idea of establishing a legal limit. If used responsibly, marijuana does not significantly impair a person's ability to drive. A 2004 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study shows that marijuana, if used responsibly, does not significantly impair a person's ability to drive.

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The world is rife with paradoxes and double standards.

One such incongruity is the disparity in attitudes toward and treatment of marijuana as opposed to those of alcohol and tobacco.

The manifestation of these attitudes are clear in the "Rights, Rules, Responsibilities" handbook.

For alcohol, "violations will result in a dean's warning," whereas even the possession of marijuana or its associated paraphernalia results in at least probation.

The only rational basis for the harsh treatment of marijuana is if it causes damage to the mission of the school more significantly than other substances. If Princeton's administration were to be internally consistent, they would make marijuana violations low priority offenses and choose to overlook violators in the same way that they do with alcohol.

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The Mexican war on drugs has been a contentious issue from the outset. Many have spoken for and against the war, but a commentator of particular note is former Mexican President Vicente Fox, who recently announced that he no longer believes in the prohibition approach. Instead, Fox argues that the best way to fight the drug trade is to legalize the sale of illegal drugs. Honestly, he makes a rather convincing case.

Make no mistake -- Fox does not just mean decriminalization, rather, he favors full legalization. He raises some very salient points regarding the failures of the war on drugs. In an interview with Time Magazine, Fox stressed the tremendous financial costs of waging a war on drugs -- including how much Mexico has suffered from a dwindling tourism economy as a direct result of the war on drugs. He also addressed the psychological toll it has had on Mexican citizens.

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The last thing chronically and terminally ill residents of New Jersey need is more delay in easing their suffering. They should not have to keep waiting for implementation of the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. It's been more than a year, and not one cannabis plant has been grown for the program.

True, most of the problems have been caused by Gov. Chris Christie's overly restrictive regulations. But a plan by Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Middlesex, to force the administration to go back to square one to rewrite the regulations may wind up doing more harm than good.

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Senate Panel to Consider Rewriting Christie Proposal

TRENTON -- The terminally ill's lack of access to medical marijuana is one of the worries of a state senator who is trying to force Gov. Chris Christie's administration to change proposed regulations of the drug.

Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Middlesex, said the Republican governor's proposed rules have several flaws, including barring dispensaries from making home deliveries, even for terminally ill patients -- those defined in the regulations as having less than 12 months to live.

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I have argued for years that the criminalization of marijuana is perhaps the most unproductive way to deal with any negative effects that the use of marijuana might have on its users. Whether or not one believes marijuana is a dangerous product to be used by people, criminalization has proved itself to be the most costly and the least effective solution to the problem.

Now suddenly we have Pat Robertson, a well-known and well-respected spiritual leader acknowledging this truth. He does not support the use of marijuana, but he has said he believes "criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot and that kind of thing, I mean, it's just costing us a fortune and it's ruining young people."

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