Advocates rally against marijuana regulations
TRENTON — Cancer patients and medical marijuana advocates in New Jersey held a demonstration yesterday, asking Gov. Chris Christie to repeal the recent regulations attached to the drug.
Speaking on the steps of the New Jersey State House, Sen. Nicolas Scutari, D-Union, said he wants to work with Christie's administration to make regulations that put the needs of patients first.
"I want to see us move forward with legislation in a rule-making process that is fair and accessible to patients to allow these very sick people to get the medicine that they need," he said. "I hope the administration recognizes that these rules need to be amended."
But Scutari said it would not work if the administration continues to treat marijuana as "a radioactive material."
"Last time I checked, no one has ever died from an overdose of marijuana," he said. "We have much more difficult and much more strong medications available right up the street at the local Walgreen's."
The demonstration also featured representatives from medical marijuana advocacy groups in the state. Anne Davis, executive director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in New Jersey, voiced support for Scutari's effort to repeal the drafted regulations.
"The regulations have a built-in design for failure by imposing a 10 percent limit on THC and three strains of medical marijuana [per grower]," she said. "The low THC of 10 percent with a two-ounce-per-month limit on the patients makes it useless for them."
THC, tetrahydrocannabinol, is an active ingredient in marijuana that causes its effect, with the body absorbing the chemical within minutes after smoking.
Davis added the two-year waiting period for additional qualifications to obtain medical marijuana is irrational and is not the intent of the legislation when accommodating patients.
"It takes compassion out of the Compassionate Use [Medical Marijuana] Act. The patients, physicians and alternative treatment center applicants have all expressed disappointment with the regulations," she said.
In conversations with doctors from New Jersey, Davis said it is clear the administration is attempting to create an unworkable program for medical marijuana, which will force patients to suffer longer.
"Gov. Christie publicly admitted just days ago that he would not sign the bill if it crosses his desk while he was governor," she said. "And I'm not convinced that Gov. Christie is not strongly influencing the design for failure in this program."
In order to provide regulations fitting for those patients who are in need of medical marijuana, Davis suggested the Department of Health and Senior Services, which drafted the legislation that former Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed in compliance with the Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act, take their interests into account when creating new regulations.
"We want to see compassion in the patients' rights be the forefront of this program, and the regulations as drafted are not in the line with the legislative intent of this bill," she said. "We demand that Gov. Christie take action, work with the Department of Health and Senior Services and work with those patients."
Ken Wolski, executive director for the Coalition for Medical Marijuana in New Jersey, also spoke out against the DHSS' drafted regulations.
"We feel these regulations are overly restrictive, burdensome and in some cases amend the law rather than try to enact the law," he said. "The Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act is already the most restrictive law in the nation, and there was no need for the regulations to make it even more restrictive."
Wolski said the coalition's concerns with the regulations include separation of cultivation facilities from alternative treatment centers, making physicians register for the program, delaying patient registry until alternative treatment centers are set up, and limiting the content of THC and strains available.
This would only make terminally ill patients suffer while waiting for a source of legal medicine that holds many beneficial elements for such patients, he said.
"Marijuana is a safe, effective and inexpensive therapeutic agent. It should be available to any patient who can benefit from it," Wolski said. "No patient should ever suffer needlessly, and no patient should ever go to prison for following the advice of a doctor."
Two New Jerseyans who qualify for medical marijuana also attended the demonstration, providing testimony as to why the drafted regulations are unfair and hurtful.
Jay Lassiter, a 38-year-old from Cherry Hill, N.J., suffers from HIV, which he contracted 19 years ago. Lassiter opened his statement by agreeing with Christie that government is too big.
"I want the government out of my medicine cabinet. There is no room for Christie's politics to come between myself and my doctor," he said. "That's why I am here today, to advocate on behalf of patients who suffer."
Lassiter then proceeded to hold up four days of medication he is required to take for HIV, which he said amounted to almost 40 pills.
"Every time I take these meds, I say two little prayers," he said. "One, I thank God that I've got access to this and number two, I say God please let these meds stay down."
Lassiter said he is lucky to have access to such medications, saying there are many people in the state who do not have such access and are dying. He also said he does not need much marijuana to help build his appetite, which helps in subduing the HIV.
"So the idea that if I'm going to maintain a really healthy fitness level and a robust appetite, these are actually critical components of me staying on top of this disease and keeping my immune system really healthy," he said.
Lassiter said those with terminal illnesses have to nourish their bodies by consuming all the calories they need.
But Lassiter said others need the medical marijuana for many other purposes, noting the limit of the THC and strains does not help their situation.
"This should have been in effect long ago and every day the governor drags his feet for political purposes is a day that people in New Jersey continue to suffer," he said. "So in the meantime, until Chris Christie can stop dragging his feet for purely partisan political purposes, I'll be a criminal once or twice a week."
Lassiter added that Christie or the DHSS wasn't thinking of patients' needs and rather held his political aspirations in higher regard.
"We're sort of pawns while his people figure out whether he wants to run for president someday," he said. "If he's got higher political aspirations, and I believe he does, that means that those aspirations become a factor in his calculus and every policy decision that he makes as it relates to New Jersey."
