New Jersey’s most noted marijuana legalization activist – “NJ Weedman.com” – said today that he regularly sends reefer to the governor.
NJ Weedman, whose real name in Ed Forchion, made the disclosure two days before he’s supposed to go on trial in Burlington County on marijuana distribution charges.
Since last spring, Weedman says he has been mailing one gram of weed (“Enough for a fattie”) to 15 public officials, from the state attorney general to the Burlington County prosecutor to Gov. Christie himself. None have been returned to him, he said.
“My jaw is dropping,” a spokesman for the governor said after the long pause that followed word from the reporter on what Forchion admitted in a telephone call to The Trentonian.
Forchion, who hails from Pemberton Township, also has long criticized the court for using his drug cases to block his access to his children. He said earlier today that he mailed Christie medicinal marijuana from California, where he works as a manager of a medical marijuana clinic.
But last time Forchion came east he allegedly was found carrying marijuana and got arrested. He often represents himself and argues for “jury nullification,” in which the jury tosses a case as bad law.
That’s a rarity, of course, but the last time Forchion tried the tactic, a case in which he ultimately took a plea deal, he was allowed to poll the jurors and found four of them would have let him free as an innocent man because they believed the marijuana laws were unjust.
That total would have won Forchion a mistrial and it would have been up to the prosecutor as to whether or not they would try him again. It would take a unanimous decision by all 12 jurors for nullification, which, if achieved, could set a precedent for other similar cases to be thrown out.
As for the pending trial, Forchion is representing himself, as he has in the past, and he hopes to pick pothead jurors using his “pot-dar.”
Forchion, who uses cannabis to control the growth of tumors in his body, Is running for State Assembly in New Jersey’s 8th District. Forchion has run for New Jersey public office eight times, including a 2006 Senate campaign and 2005 gubernatorial and congressional campaigns, as a way of raising awareness of draconian marijuana laws.
Visit his website at www.njweedman.com
