TRENTON - Prominent defense attorney William Buckman, well known for the State Police racial profiling case in the 1990s, is prepping a civil lawsuit against the state health department for delaying New Jersey's medical marijuana program.

Buckman will co-counsel the litigation along with Anne Davis, the director of the New Jersey chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The announcement came today during a noon press conference on the Statehouse steps in Trenton attended by a small group of patients, advocates and leaders of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana in New Jersey. The event was called to commemorate the two-year anniversary of Gov. Jon Corzine's signing of the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act.

The program has largely languished with not one of the state's six planned medical marijuana centers being anywhere close to opening.

Buckman said he hopes the "strategy of litigation" will put an end to the administration's "foot dragging."

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By now, the owners of an empty storefront in Montclair expected to be dispensing medical marijuana to hundreds of cancer and multiple sclerosis patients suffering from demoralizing pain.

Instead, brown paper covers the windows, and the green awning still bears the name of an old business. Greenleaf Compassion Center officials have spent more than $80,000, all while they wait for the go-ahead.

As the two-year anniversary of Gov. Jon Corzine signing New Jersey's medical marijuana act approaches on Wednesday, one thing is clear: The health department isn't close to opening the first dispensary.

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TRENTON - A state lawmaker and medical marijuana advocates Monday accused the Christie administration of poor oversight of the state's medical marijuana program and questioned whether background checks of major players were being conducted.

The reaction came after The Sunday Star-Ledger reported that a member of the medical advisory board at one of the state's medical marijuana centers has ties to Solomon Dwek, conman and key informant in the now infamous "Jersey Sting."

"The governor needs to do a better job backgrounding the vendors," said Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), who co-sponsored the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. "It was his handpicked vendors."

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A state lawmaker and medical marijuana advocates Monday accused the Christie administration of poor oversight of the medical marijuana program and questioned whether background checks of major players were being conducted.

The reaction came after the Sunday Star-Ledger reported that a member of the medical advisory board at one of the state's medical marijuana centers has ties to Solomon Dwek, conman and key informant in the now infamous "Jersey Sting."

"The governor needs to do a better job backgrounding the vendors," said Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), who co-sponsored the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. "It was his handpicked vendors."

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