Two Republicans representing Morris County in Trenton want to 'put breaks' on legalization of marijuana by governor-elect. Two Republicans representing Morris County in Trenton are pushing back against the promise by Governor-elect Phil Murphy to sign a bill legalizing marijuana in the first 100 days of his administration. Murphy and the Democratic majorities in the Senate and Assembly have said they want marijuana legalized in early 2018, which could generate up to $300 million in annual taxes to the state. [continues 697 words]
In this divided nation, we should be able to at least find common cause in the fight to stop and treat opioid addiction, a scourge that knows no single identity, and that does not respect geographic boundaries or common socio-economic factors. This is a fight we must all take up, arm in arm, because in one way or another it affects all Americans. Indeed, the more we know about this menace to our national health, the worse it seems. According to a new analysis released by the Trump White House, the opioid addiction crisis may already be much worse than previously thought. According to the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the true cost of the crisis, as of 2015, stands at $504 billion, a figure more than six times the most recent estimate. [continues 405 words]
PATERSON -- About a dozen men and women sat on hard plastic chairs early Wednesday morning inside a conference room at the Well of Hope Drop-In Center on Broadway, where a flat screen television broadcast sports highlights on ESPN. Some came for the free coffee. A sign said the limit was one cup per hour. Others were there to use the showers and toilet facilities. A 57-year-old man who would only give his name as "Julius" was waiting to see a nurse about a blister on his foot. [continues 957 words]
Gov. Chris Christie is growing impatient with the Trump administration over its delay in declaring the opioid epidemic a national emergency. Christie said during an interview with MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes on Tuesday night that too many lives are being lost to drug overdoses for a formal declaration to wait any longer. "I think it's time for the president and White House staff to get on this and for the president to demand that they get the papers in front of him so he can sign it," Christie said. [continues 454 words]
Energy drinks could be a gateway to cocaine use, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Public Health found that young adults who said they'd consumed energy drinks yearly between ages 21 and 24 were at greater risk for subsequently doing cocaine, using prescription stimulants for non-medical uses and problem drinking. The 1,099 study participants were recruited as 18-year-old college students. Those who didn't consume energy drinks as they got older were less likely to develop substance-abuse problems. [continues 338 words]
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump met with Cabinet members and senior staff at his golf club in Bedminster to discuss the opioid crisis. Missing at the meeting was Gov. Chris Christie, the chairman of the president's commission charged with studying the national rise of heroin and opioid addiction. Christie is on vacation. While the governor missed the meeting, the president is missing the message Christie has been sending for several years: treatment over incarceration will save lives. Long before his approval rating tanked at 15 percent, Christie used his then sizable political capital to focus on treatment and rehabilitation. He did it when he pushed for drug courts. He did it when he eloquently spoke of a law student friend who died because of addiction. And during his presidential bid, Christie resonated most effectively with voters when talking about drug addiction. [continues 473 words]
When it comes to the state's medical marijuana law, progress has come in increments rather than great strides. New Jersey's Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, state law since 2010, has been implemented ever so slowly under Gov. Chris Christie, who has never hidden his disdain for the law. Yet those disappointed by the snail's pace of the law, and the establishment of new medical marijuana centers, have new reason to take heart. As Staff Writer Lindy Washburn reported, North Jersey will soon be welcoming the state's largest dispensary of medical marijuana yet -- at a 10,000-square-foot facility on Meadowlands Parkway in Secaucus. Once it opens, the dispensary plans to serve up to 4,000 patients a month with a variety of strains of cannabis. The Christie administration has issued a permit to grow medical marijuana to Harmony Foundation and will consider issuing a permit to dispense marijuana after the crop is tested later this year. [continues 357 words]
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker introduced a bill Tuesday to make marijuana legal at the federal level, marking the first time the New Jersey Democrat has come out in favor of full legalization and further stoking tensions with a Trump administration that has sought to roll back the clock on federal drug policy. The Marijuana Justice Act, as Booker is calling his bill, would also allow people serving time for marijuana-related offenses to be resentenced and automatically expunge federal marijuana use and possession crimes. States whose marijuana laws disproportionately affect minorities or poor people would lose federal funding for law enforcement and prison construction, among other funds. [continues 699 words]
The call to legalize marijuana in New Jersey has been loud and clear, lately. Legalization rallies have occurred in groups in Trenton, and front-runners from both parties of the gubernational primary elections have been vocal in their support of legalization. What is there to know about the legalization of marijuana in New Jersey? The state's medical marijuana program added 5,000 participants last year, and total enrollment now exceeds 10,000, according to the state's Health Department. There are five state-licensed dispensaries, also known as alternative treatment centers, and Secaucus just got approval to open its own dispensary. [continues 179 words]
Regarding "Marijuana should be legalized" (Your Views, June 6): The points the writer raises regarding legalizing cannabis are ignorant and obviously not factual. They are clearly just his uneducated opinion. Just how will legalization reduce street drug markets? Issues of increased tax revenue, economic boost to retail and job creation, and not contributing to homelessness and violence are irrelevant. Do you want to be driving your car at 70 miles an hour on the Turnpike with your kid in the back, next to someone who is high because he just finished smoking a recreational joint? [continues 152 words]
Regarding "Opioid crisis continues to grow" (Editorial, July 22): Most of the efforts on overdosing of opioids in Governor Christie's programs have to do with treating the addict. We need more to be done to prevent the addiction from happening in the first place. And at the same time, we should not shame people who want to use soft drugs. When we have a legal drug, alcohol, which causes far more harm than cannabis does, there is something wrong. We need to acknowledge that some people have a need to benefit from cannabis, and we gain nothing by censuring them. The "stigma" hasn't really worked very well. People have found benefit from this plant. We would be better off accepting this rather than putting them through arrests and worse. Roy Sutton Rahway, July 25 [end]
The national opioid crisis is spreading. Despite increased awareness of the dangers of abusing prescription drugs, the numbers of fatalities and overdoses continue to rise. That is too true in Bergen County. As Staff Writer Steve Janoski reports, despite the efforts of Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal, the county appears on track to surpass last year's totals of 320 overdoses; 259 of which were opioid related. Ninety-eight people died. That's an 11 percent increase in overdoses from 2015 and a 12.6 percent increase in fatalities. [continues 441 words]
Medical patients in severe pain seek comfort in a variety of ways. Some remedies, they find, work better than others. Some medications, they find, are less addictive than others. These are factors that must be weighed as New Jersey considers the pros and cons of whether to expand its list of "debilitating medical conditions" for those who wish to participate in the state's medical marijuana program. More than 12,500 residents have been registered under the program since it was legalized in 2010, yet many more patients and caregivers want to participate and say the state's existing rules are too restrictive. We agree. [continues 379 words]
New Jersey is gearing up for an intense campaign for marijuana legalization. Senate Bill 3195 and Assembly Bill 4872, which would legalize marijuana in New Jersey, have been introduced by state Sen. Nicholas P. Scutari, D-Union, and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, D-Mercer. The Drug Policy Alliance commends the sponsors for their leadership on this issue and we will be working with them to ensure that the final legislation contains provisions missing from the bill that are essential to establishing a fair and equitable marijuana market and repairing the disproportionate harm that marijuana prohibition has inflicted on communities of color. To highlight the need for these provisions, the Drug Policy Alliance is releasing a short video, made in collaboration with Brave New Films, which explores the current and historical impacts of marijuana prohibition on communities of color. The video features racial and social justice advocates from across New Jersey. [continues 575 words]
Looking beyond Gov. Chris Christie and seeing a more socially liberal future, Democratic lawmakers opened their campaign to legalize marijuana in New Jersey with a lengthy legislative hearing Monday. Although no vote was planned on the bill that was introduced last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing formally set in motion a campaign to make New Jersey among the first states in the Northeast to legalize marijuana. Voters in eight other states and Washington, D.C., have approved marijuana legalization, but New Jersey would be the first to do so through legislation. [continues 615 words]
West Milford police revived a 31-year-old Hewitt woman suffering from a heroin overdose on Jan. 21. [photo] A West Milford police car sits idle behind town hall on Dec. 31, 2016.(Photo: Joe Sarno/NorthJersey.com) WEST MILFORD -- Local police revived a 31-year-old Hewitt woman suffering from an apparent heroin overdose on Saturday afternoon. West Milford police officers administered the opioid-blocking medication naloxone to the resident after finding her unresponsive at approximately 2:12 p.m. on Jan. 21, according a Jan. 24 press release from the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office. [continues 66 words]
[Name redacted] of Denville, was charged by Wayne police with possession of heroin.(Photo: Courtesy of Wayne Police) [Name redacted], 26, of Denville was arrested and charged with possession of 39 bags of heroin, among other charges, on Jan. 4. According to police records, Officer Tomasz Cydzik observed a 2000 Honda Civic parked in the CVS parking lot on Hamburg Turnpike with her head down "as if unconscious" around 9:40 p.m. When the officer approached, [name redacted] opened her eyes and police observed an uncapped syringe inside the vehicle, according to police reports. After further investigation, five Suboxone under-the-tongue films, one Clonazepam pill, a sandwich-sized plastic bag containing suspected marijuana, two additional hypodermic needles, multiple open glassine bags of suspected heroin, 39 additional bags of heroin stamped "suicide squad" and one small zip lock bag containing suspected cocaine, police records show. [continues 59 words]
[photo] Gov. Chris Christie led a roundtable discussion at Integrity House in Newark, following the signing of an executive order declaring opoid addiction a public health crisis. At right, Integrity House President Robert Budsock. At left is Vanessa, an Integrity House program graduate.(Photo: Dale Mincey / NorthJersey) NEWARK -- In front of a small group of recovering addicts, Gov. Chris Christie signed an executive order on Tuesday declaring the opioid addiction problem in New Jersey a public health crisis. The event, which was held at Integrity House -- an substance abuse recovery home on South Street in Newark -- took place less than an hour after Lt. Gov. Kim Guagdano announced her candidacy to succeed him as governor. [continues 587 words]
[photo] Governor Christie's attorney asked for the dismissal of a probable cause finding on an official misconduct complaint over the George Washington Bridge lane closures.(Photo: Chris Pedota/NorthJersey) Chris Christie plunged himself into the center of a crisis on Tuesday. It's a place where he's comfortable and often compelling. It's also a place where he thrives. "Our friends are dying. Our neighbors are dying. Our co-workers are dying. Our children are dying. Every day. In numbers we can no longer ignore,'' Christie said in his seventh State of the State speech, which was part sermon, part call to arms for the Legislature to confront the state's drug addiction crisis that "is ripping the very fabric of this state." [continues 940 words]
[photo] Governor Chris Christie delivers his State of the State address on Tuesday.(Photo: Chris Pedota/NorthJersey) As he composed a lengthy State of the State speech dedicated to battling New Jersey's heroin and opiate crisis, Governor Christie said he was intent on including one component that will not only challenge lawmakers in Trenton, but drastically alter the health care industry around the state. He insisted on a new law mandating that no resident with health insurance could be denied coverage for the first six months of inpatient or outpatient treatment, an unprecedented length of time, experts say. He told his administration two months ago to figure out how such a major change could be done. [continues 869 words]
