The grass is looking greener for New Jersey marijuana users. The idea of legal pot was once a pipe dream for those who so indulged. Not anymore. Gov.-elect Phil Murphy has pledged to sign legislation legalizing pot within 100 days of his Jan. 16 inauguration, prompting speculation on what that hazy world would look like. Among the particulars that have been largely agreed upon: New Jerseyans would be permitted to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana for personal use, and previous convictions for such possession would be eligible for expungement. [continues 515 words]
The Garden State could soon become a bit more green. Proponents of legalized marijuana in New Jersey are lining up in the aftermath of Phil Murphy's election as governor, anticipating no-questions-asked pot sales to adults by late next year with an ally in the governor's office. Murphy has named the head of a marijuana trade group as his chief of staff, and a new association for marijuana retailers has formed. The governor-elect vowed during his campaign to legalize the drug, and the growing industry is counting on him to quickly make good on the pledge. [continues 990 words]
Drug dealers convicted on federal trafficking charges received the stiffest sentences from federal court judges last year in the Midwest and the Southeast. But the longer sentences are more driven by the type of drugs common in different states rather than judges in one region being tougher on drugs than counterparts elsewhere. In many states with longer average sentences, methamphetamines were the most prevalent drugs in these federal cases, according to a USA Today Network analysis of U.S. Sentencing Commission data. [continues 438 words]
Taking a break from his provocative tweets on North Korea, President Trump on Thursday declared the opioid addiction epidemic a national emergency, heeding Gov. Chris Christie's suggestion as part of Christie's work with a special presidential commission on opioid abuse. It was a welcome step by Trump, albeit a bit unexpected; as recently as Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Trump would not make the emergency declaration because it was unnecessary. But as is so often the case with Trump, even sensible policy is layered with impulsiveness, hypocrisy and a general sense of cluelessness. [continues 640 words]
Anyone looking to buttress the argument for decriminalizing marijuana in New Jersey should take a close look at a new American Civil Liberties Union report regarding the War on Pot. To sum up: It's a needless fight being waged badly. Pot arrests have been rising steadily under Gov. Chris Christie, which shouldn't be a surprise. Christie continues to regard marijuana as a gateway drug to harder substances, and dragged his feet on implementing New Jersey's medicinal marijuana law. Christie's compassion and enlightenment regarding drug addiction and how best to combat it seems to stop at opioids. [continues 406 words]
The legalization of small amounts of marijuana for people 21 and over came before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday as the committee considers abill introduced by Sen. Nicolas Scutari, D-Union. According to Scutari's office, no vote was taken. (To listen to the hearing, click here.) In the bill, Scutari mentions the cost to New Jersey for enforcement. Marijuana possession arrests made up three out of every five drug arrests in New Jersey in 2012. The state shells out about $127 million per year on marijuana possession enforcement efforts. [continues 809 words]
To keep the rising tide of opioid overdoses from extending into the schools, county and school officials have put the OD antidote naloxone in every one of the 74 public and private high schools in Monmouth County. "We have not had a drug overdose death at any school in Monmouth County. But with that said, one never knows whether an overdose could occur at or near a school," Christopher Gramiccioni, Monmouth County prosecutor, said in a statement. "I hope schools never have to use these kits, but we want them to be prepared," [continues 146 words]
McKesson Corporation agreed to pay $150 million to settle allegations from federal authorities that the company failed to monitor and report suspicious sales of oxycodone and hydrocodone. The Washington Post reported on the settlement in December, gleaned from a publicly disclosed Form 8-K filed by McKesson on April 30, 2015. Tuesday was the first mention of the settlement by federal law enforcement authorities. The settlement stemmed from an earlier case. In 2008, McKesson agreed to pay $13.25 million after the government alleged it failed to create and maintain a system to detect and report suspicious orders of increasing amounts of oxycodone and hydrocodone pills to independent and small chain pharmacies. [continues 297 words]
Anti-drug advocates hailed Gov. Chris Christie's pledge Tuesday to make New Jersey's addiction crisis a top job in the final year of his term in office, but there were worries about funding and follow through. Using soaring rhetoric, heartfelt personal stories of loss and unmistakable zeal, the governor used his State of the State address to outline a series of new initiatives to battle the opioid epidemic that has devastated New Jersey. Paul Ressler, who lost his son Corey to a heroin overdose and now runs an organization that informs the public about the use of the opioid overdose antidote naloxone, praised the goal of getting more teenagers into treatment. Christie promised to change state regulations that exclude 18 and 19 year olds from treatment facilities for children. [continues 1053 words]
The program launched by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office provides rehabilitation to those without insurance. Heroin and fentanyl deaths are rising in Ocean County.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto) Anyone suffering from addiction can now drop into two police departments in Ocean County and get treatment, whether they have insurance or not, officials announced Monday morning. The program also allows addicts to turn in their drugs without fear of being prosecuted, Al Della Fave, the spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said. The office is spearheading the program known as the Heroin Addiction Response Program. [continues 542 words]
Sitting in a jail cell and preparing to spend as many as five years in state prison for two heroin possession charges, Matt Lopreiato found himself at a grim crossroads. "I destroyed my family inside and out. I felt like my life was over. No family, no friends," the 27-year-old Toms River man said. "I felt like I was alone and would be better off dead to be completely honest with you." The heroin addict went cold turkey and spent 43 days in Ocean County Jail. Then an offer arrived: go through addiction treatment, succeed and go free. [continues 899 words]
Lacey Township Middle School is one of the first in the region to drug test middle school students. Here's why. LACEY -- Middle schoolers here are among the first in the region to take part in a random drug testing program that could shape the battle against drug abuse. Superintendent Craig Wigley said the program is ready to launch after New Year's, and he expects about 100 of the middle school's roughly 700 students to participate. Parents must enroll their seventh- and eighth-graders in order to take part in the voluntary program, under which students who fail a random drug test would be removed from sports and extracurricular activities for 10 days after the first offense, 45 days after the second offense, and longer for a third offense. [continues 451 words]
Heroin's deadly cousin, the synthetic opioid fentanyl, figured in 417 fatal drug overdoses in New Jersey in 2015, nearly three times the number of fentanyl-related deaths in the year before, according to new state figures. The findings from the Office of the State Medical Examiner confirm the fears of law enforcement and public health officials, who have been forecasting an ever-rising body count from opioid addiction. In 2014, the number of fentanyl-related deaths in New Jersey stood at 142. [continues 465 words]
Regarding the May 29 point-counterpoint relating to drug use between Elaine Pozycki and Jeffrey Miron ("At Issue: Is N.J. winning war on heroin?," I fully support Miron's view that drugs should be legalized. It is absurd to continue this silly crusade against what people want to do.The government should let people make their own decisions on what they consume, good or bad. Pozycki's slant is we should not only continue prohibitions against drug use but increase laws against people's personal desires, as if the government is their parent and they are children. It is apparent, though, that Pozycki is part of the massive "anti-drug" industry that has grown up around the use of opiates. In effect, people like Pozycki are in league with their so-called "opposite" number, the drug cartels, in not wanting drugs legalized. Legalization would destroy their respective livelihoods. [continues 65 words]
NEPTUNE - Gov. Chris Christie addressed more than 200 medical and law-enforcement professionals about opioid and opiate addiction, treatment and recovery Thursday, joining a dais that included a pharmaceutical manufacturer, a Massachusetts police chief and an addiction specialist. Christie made it personal. The governor retold a story - about his law school friend, now dead after an apparent overdose on opiates complicated by alcohol - that went viral in November. He said his friend - whom he has never named - was at the head of his law school study group and the first to find success after graduation, and nobody could have foreseen his descent into prescription drug abuse and the implosion of his personal and professional lives. [continues 752 words]
Congratulations to the Press on its recent series of articles concerning New Jersey's growing heroin epidemic. They follow the Press' past editorials opposing legalization of recreational marijuana. Convincing Democrat legislators in Trenton to abandon their lust for marijuana-generated tax dollars would be a life-saving decision. It is actually blood money and should never be used to redistribute New Jersey's wealth. Why state legislators led by Sen. Nick Scutari, D-Middlesex-Union-Somerset, are anxious to entice our young into lives that include narcotics is a mystery. This, is in spite of medical professionals and statistics that prove experimentation with marijuana leads to heroin and other hard-core addiction. [continues 155 words]
New Jersey's Fiscal Year 2017 budget should prioritize reversing our state's recent expansion of the failed "War on Drugs" and the intentional use of collective violence on drug using populations. Despite talking points of "reclaiming lives from addiction" and "reducing prison populations" the state has endured a 30 percent increase of drug possession arrests in the last few years. The current proposed budget calls for $64 million to expand the Drug Court program, an additional $127 million to increase provider rates for substance use treatment and retrofitting Mid-State Prison as a monolithic treatment center. [continues 597 words]
I am a retired New Jersey State Trooper with extensive experience working narcotics cases. Bob Percopo, in his Feb. 4 oped "Legalizing drugs makes no sense," called recent drug policy reforms hypocritical. But our prohibitive strategy of the past half-century has done nothing to curb drug abuse while simultaneously making our streets more dangerous. When those who received commutations were behind bars, the drug market didn't slow down in the slightest. People were - - and still are - overdosing. Contrary to Percopo's worries, legalizing marijuana is actually a great option for reducing the burden on the legal system and improving public safety while simultaneously reducing the severity of the opiate crisis. In states where medical marijuana is legal and regulated, opiate overdoses have decreased by 25 percent. [continues 137 words]
I am a 90-year-old World War II veteran. When I was a teenager before the war, I began hearing of the dangers of marijuana. Now, many years later, I still read and hear about local, state and federal governments' efforts to eliminate or control marijuana - all of them unsuccessful. However, in the Jan 10 issue of the Press, I read an oped by Sgt. Dominic Bucci, a retired 25-year veteran of the N.J. State Police on the subject of marijuana, "Legalize pot, put dealers out of business." Bucci suggested legalizing it, controlling its contents, taxing it and banning its use by those under 21 - just as we do with alcohol, tobacco and guns. He is right. It's time to admit that all our efforts to control the distribution and use of marijuana have failed. Why not try Bucci's suggestion? [continues 120 words]
What was Assemblyman Reed Gusciora smoking? That question immediately came to mind when we learned of his plans to introduce a bill next month that would legalize recreational marijuana in Atlantic City. Gusciora, D-Mercer, says legalization would breathe new life into the struggling city, stimulating a new breed of gambler and making it an attractive destination for people from all over the U.S. "I think people from across the country would come out here for vacations and take advantage of legalized recreational marijuana. No other casino offers this, not even Nevada, so this would be unique. It's a way for our casinos to say that we have a unique experience," Gusciora said. [continues 420 words]