New Jersey votes today on bill to legalize medical marijuana

By DEREK HARPER Statehouse Bureau, 609-292-4935

TRENTON - The state Senate is scheduled to vote today on a bill that would decriminalize marijuana use for some medical purposes in New Jersey, and one of the bill's sponsors said he was taken aback by residents' reactions to the proposal.

"I've been pleasantly surprised that the overwhelming response has been positive," said state Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, who is sponsoring the measure with Sen. Nicholas Scutiari, D-Union, Somerset Middlesex.

The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act would require the state Department of Health and Senior Services to issue registration cards to patients who have been diagnosed with debilitating medical conditions. They would then be allowed to keep six marijuana plants and have an ounce of marijuana in their possession.

It would also create "alternative treatment centers" that would provide marijuana to registered patients.

Patients would be banned from smoking marijuana in public or while operating vehicles.

Ken Wolski, executive director of the Coalition for Medicinal Marijuana New Jersey, said the bill was very conservative because no state that has allowed medicinal marijuana has smaller plant or possession limits. But he said it still would benefit people.

But at the same time, the Fraternal Order of Police New Jersey State Lodge warned the centers could become local problems.

"States with marijuana stores have been burdened with nuisance and violent crimes associated with them," Edward R. Brannigan, state FOP president, said in an advertisement with the political news site PolitickerNJ.com. "Marijuana stores in New Jersey will require local police departments to divert resources to prevent, and respond to, marijuana store-related crime, costing property taxpayers thousands of dollars in extra police services."

Whelan said he has heard from a number of people who oppose the measure, but "it's been a surprise to me but the overwhelming response has been positive. People recognize this is a bill aimed at getting pain relief ... This is not for people who have a headache, but people with diseases like multiple sclerosis and terminally ill cancer patients, and if medicinal marijuana can bring some relief for those folks then I'm for it."

But if it passes today, it remains unclear when the measure would be considered in the Assembly. Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would sign the bill.

Whelan said he and Scutari have talked with some lawmakers in the lower house. But that side of the Legislature is up for election in November, and potentially controversial issues typically are delayed until after then.

That schedule would give the bill a narrow window to clear both houses of the Legislature and be signed by the governor by the time the session ends in early January. If not passed by then, it and all other incomplete bills must be reintroduced and begin the process anew.

Whelan said he and others have found the issue to be less controversial than feared, so if it passes on the merits Monday, it could be considered soon there.

"Given the positive response, frankly, that I've gotten and others have gotten on this," Whelan said, "I don't see it being much of an election issue one way or the other."

But he declined to speculate on timing, saying the state's ongoing economic problems have focused much of lawmakers' attention on those issues.

E-mail Derek Harper:

DHarper@pressofac.com