IMMLY Statement on Passage of New Jersey Medical Marijuana Law

Is My Medicine Legal YET?
www.IMMLY.org & www.JRMMA.org
For immediate release: Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2010

IMMLY Statement on Passage of New Jersey Medical Marijuana Law

On Monday, the New Jersey State Legislature passed medical cannabis legislation by margins of 48-14 in the Assembly and 25-13 in the Senate. New Jersey became the 5th of the total now of 14 U.S. states to pass medical marijuana legislation through the state legislature rather than the voter initiative.

With the bill's expected signing into law by outgoing NJ Gov. Jon Corzine, New Jersey doctors will join colleagues in 13 other states having the option of recommending medical cannabis for patients with certain debilitating medical conditions. The addition of New Jersey's almost 9 million residents raises the total US population now covered by medical marijuana laws to nearly 27% of Americans.

The process of passage of New Jersey's bipartisan bill was not easy and it took too much time. Numerous patients suffered, died, were arrested, etc. while the legislature looked for the courage to act decisively. After the Assembly passed a more restrictive version than the Senate, both houses were forced to work out a compromise that was acceptable while still producing a bill that allowed compassionate access for New Jersey patients. But while they stretched it out to the last day, the NJ Legislature ultimately did the right thing.

As IMMLY Founder Jacki Rickert says, "This Bill, This Time". Just as New Jersey acted to protect patients, so can Wisconsin. Wisconsin legislators need to understand that New Jersey legislators also care about children and law enforcement concerns, and that they also worry about diversion of medical marijuana to people who are not bona fide patients. But even so, they finally refused to allow seriously ill and dying New Jersey residents to suffer one minute longer without legal access to this option because of those worries.

For Wisconsin legislators there should be no pride in delaying a law (JRMMA) that will ultimately pass one day. If the JRMMA does not pass this session, while the sky does NOT fall in New Jersey, which state will have better served its most vulnerable residents?

Is My Medicine Legal YET? is a Mondovi and Madison Wisconsin based grass roots patient and caregiver organization dedicated to advancing public education about the medicinal benefits of cannabis. For further information contact Jacki Rickert at 715.926.4950 or Gary Storck at 608.241.8922 or visit the IMMLY websites at www.IMMLY.org and www.JRMMA.org.

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Updated Monday, January 11, 2010