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Six nonprofits growing the plant for use by pain-stricken ill

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday announced he is allowing the state to begin dispensing medical marijuana to painfully-ill patients who qualify despite his concern over whether federal authorities could prosecute state employees or state-approved growers.

Just before leaving office early last year, Gov. Jon Corzine and the Democratic-controlled Legislature legalized marijuana for New Jerseyans with certain conditions. But the law’s implementation was delayed as the Christie administration pondered the regulatory details.

In June, Christie said he wanted assurance from federal prosecutors that they won’t pursue criminal charges against state-sanctioned medical marijuana programs before he agreed to implement the law.

The governor said he did not get that assurance, but doesn’t believe federal authorities will prosecute people following the state law.

"I have instructed the commissioner of health to move forward as expeditiously as possible to implement the medical marijuana program in New Jersey as outlined in the regulatory scheme and the statutory scheme set up by the Legislature and by the executive branch," Christie said. 'In consultation with the commissioner of health, they will reach out, the Department of Health will reach out today to the awardees of the six alternative treatment centers and tell them to begin work immediately towards opening and beginning the distribution in accordance with the law of medicinal marijuana to those who are entitled to get it in the state of New Jersey under the statutory scheme and in consultation with physicians.

"How long it’s going to take is something that we’ll probably know in the next week or two, when we get a response from the dispensaries about how quickly they can get up and running, but it is my judgment not only as governor but I think almost more importantly as a former United States Attorney, that I don’t believe that the United States Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, and I’m not speaking for them, I don’t have the authority to do that any longer, I don’t believe the United States Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, given the narrow and medically based nature of our program will expend what are significantly lessening federal law enforcement resources in the context of the federal budget, on going after dispensaries in New Jersey, our Department of Health or other state workers who are helping to implement this program," the governor said. "They have too many other things I think to do, appropriately so, and while I have not gotten any indication, I want to make this clear, I have not spoken to the United States attorney about this, and I’ve gotten no indication either directly or indirectly from US Attorney Fishman about what approach he may take."

In April, Christie halted state officials from beginning a patient registry or taking other administrative actions out of concern that state employees could be arrested by federal law enforcement officials. The possession or selling marijuana remains a federal crime, despite 16 states enacting medical marijuana laws for select patients.

"This is one of those decisions that’s not an easy one for me as governor," Christie said. "I had to balance the benefit that will go to citizens in pain versus some potential risks to the folks that we’re authorizing as dispensaries and to state employees. But I believe based on my background in law enforcement, my reading of the deputy attorney general’s memorandum, and the comments by the president of the United States, that it’s a risk worth taking in order to alleviate the pain that people are suffering here in the state. So I’ve directed it to happen as soon as possible and as I said earlier based upon responses that we’ll be getting starting this week from the dispensary operators, we’ll be able to update you at a later date about exactly when we believe that this will be available to people in New Jersey who have lawfully obtained a right to get it. But you can be sure that we’ll be working and encouraging the dispensaries to get open as quickly as is practical, so that we can begin to deliver the type of relief to the citizens of our state that they need and deserve and that they’ll get it in a way that exposes them and those who are helping them, caregivers, the operators of the dispensary, and the citizens, and rather the employees of the Department of Health to the least amount of risk from a federal legal perspective."

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), a sponsor of the medical marijuana law, said, “The long-awaited green light for New Jersey’s medical marijuana program marks a monumental day for people in New Jersey who have been patiently awaiting relief.

Roughly a year and a half after the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act was signed into law by Governor Corzine, we are now seeing it being put into action. With six operating, stand-alone dispensaries dispersed among the regions, we are affording people greater access to the care that they need in their time of pain.

“As the sponsor of the original bill, I had hoped for some of the restrictions to be lifted,” Gusciora said. ‘However, as I said all along, I would rather we address these issues over the long-term so that we can get the program up and running as quickly as possible. I am confident that other aspects of the law, like the THC strength, will be continually evaluated throughout the process by th e Department of Health and Human Services and I look forward to hearing their findings down the road.”

Sen. Nicholas P. Scutari (D-Union), sponsored the law in the Senate.

“Over the past year and a half, we have heard from patients across New Jersey who are desperate for relief from the effects of cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS and other debilitating conditions," Scutari said. "I am pleased the governor has finally decided to move forward with full implementation of our medical marijuana program so that patients who need it have access to compassionate care.

“Since this program will move forward under a more restrictive model than we intended, I plan to monitor its progress closely to ensure that individuals who need medicinal marijuana are, in fact, able to obtain it," the senator said. "It is my hope that the Department of Health will work with the Legislature to resolve any issues that may arise during the process of rolling out this program, and in the future.”

Pointing out that Corzine signed the legislation the day before he left office, Christie said, "We were left with very little instruction in the end about how to implement this law and how to do it in a very complex legal environment, with conflicting and intersecting federal and state legal requirements and opportunities. And so we set out from the beginning to try to set up a scheme from a regulatory perspective that would allow us the greatest protection from federal intervention, because my goal in all of this from the beginning was pretty simple. I made clear during the campaign that this is not a law that I would have signed if I were governor at the time."

On June 30, U.S. Deputy Attorney General James Cole sent Christie a memo discussing the legal issues that would be involved in a medical marijuana program.

The memo did not specifically state whether state employees who administer the medical marijuana program would be immune from arrest. It did emphasize that "individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regimen consistent with applicable state law, or their caregivers'' would not be targeted.

"I have been struggling as has my administration to find a way to accomplish what I wanted to accomplish, which is to provide compassionate treatment to people who are suffering in a way that will not expose them, the operators of our dispensaries, or the employees of the state of New Jersey to criminal liability," Christie said. "That is a lot easier said than done. That’s why we’ve taken the steps we’ve taken. Set up a regulatory scheme that makes this a very narrow and medically based program that will not lead itself to the abuses that we’ve seen particularly in California and in Colorado. A program that really is focused on taking care of truly ill people who have seen this as the best alternative to give them relief from the symptoms that they’re suffering from."

Commenting on his outlook that he does not feel federal authorities will prosecute New Jerseyans involved in the medical marijuana program, Christie said he took the Cole memo on vacation and took time to study it. The governor also said he reviewed remarks made by President Obama who said, "What I’m not going to be doing, what I’m not going to be doing, is using Justice Department resources to try and circumvent state laws on this issue simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and potential terrorism and we’ve got lots of other things for our law enforcement officers to deal with.”

"Taking that in combination with the letter from Deputy Attorney General Cole and most importantly the way we’ve set up this program which is to be a narrow medically based program that does not have the concerns about it that Deputy Attorney General Cole stated in his letter about a broad program where there’s growing going on everywhere, and selling going on all over the place, we are going to be restricted to just these six areas," Christie said. "That’s the reason we did the regulatory scheme we did at the time, not as a way to kill the program but as a way to implement the program, because in the end my desire all along has been to bring compassionate care to the people who need it the most and not to play politics with this issue."

With Democrats who control the Legislature criticizing him daily for cutting nearly $1 billion in state budget allocations they proposed for social and property tax relief programs, Christie has gone on a public relations offensive this week.

On Monday he announced his support for the restoration of $149 million in state aid to municipalities and the award of $500,000 in federal aid to the Newark-based Wynona’s House child protection center. On Tuesday, as an Assembly committee held a public hearing on the potential impact of the social programs’ cuts, the governor announced the resumption of the medical marijuana program.

Related: Text of Christie's speech on the resumption of New Jersey's medical marijuana program