Concurrent Resolutions Introduced in NJ Legislature to Invalidate Restrictive Medical Marijuana Rules
Concurrent resolutions, ACR 188/ SCR 151, have been filed in the New Jersey legislature. These resolutions, if passed, would invalidate many of the more onerous restrictions that have been added to the state’s medical marijuana act.
These resolutions require no further committee action, but both must receive full floor votes. If approved, they would not require the governor’s signature and cannot be vetoed. This is why it is imperative that you contact your elected officals and tell them to stand with New Jersey’s patients and call for a floor vote on these resolutions.
In January, State Sen. Nicholas Scutari led a public hearing before the Senate Health Committee to discuss voiding draft rules by the Department of Health and Senior Services that sought to unduly restrict the implementation of the Medical Marijuana Act. You can read NORML’s critique of the draft regulations here. You can also watch video from the hearings here.
Lawmakers, patients, and reform activists take issue with several aspects of the regulations, which they argue violated the intent of New Jersey’s yet-to-be implemented medical marijuana law. These included provisions:
- requiring qualifying patients to establish that their diagnosed condition has proven resistant to all other conventional therapies;
- capping the number of state-licensed medical cannabis producers to no more than two;
- restricting the varieties of marijuana available to patients to six strains, and capping the plant’s THC content at ten percent;
- prohibiting the dissemination of any edible medical cannabis product;
- mandating that doctors who authorize their patients to use marijuana must “make reasonable efforts” at least every three months to wean them off the drug.
You can urge your member of the House and Senate to support these resolutions by entering your zip code below.
For more information contact NORML New Jersey or the Coalition for Medical Marijuana — New Jersey or write to: [email protected].
