Garden State May Become Greener
June 5th, 2009 by Rick
New Jersey may just become the 14th state to legalize medical marijuana for chronically ill patients. On Thursday, the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee approved the medical marijuana bill that the senate had passed, with an overwhelming eight to one (with two abstentions) vote.
The bill already has the backing of State Attorney General Anne Milgram saying “it’s workable” and Governor Jon Corzine has already said that he would sign the bill into a law.
If passed into a law it would allow patients whose doctors have determined them to be chronically ill to be issued an identification card that lets them grow six plants or obtain the medical marijuana at an “alternative medicine center.”
Middlesex Police Chief James Benson, representing the State Association of Chiefs of Police, said:
It will lead to increased marijuana use, increased crime, and an increased threat to public safety.
A co-sponsor of the bill, State Senator Fred Scutari, said:
It will be the most restrictive law in the U.S. … with the most safeguards in terms of abuse.
Per usual, law enforcement officials at a local level continue to repeat the rhetoric that has been whispered into their ears by drug warriors. It doesn’t matter if a state declares medical marijuana legal, city officials and their law enforcement can seemingly do whatever they want when it comes to circumventing a law.
