The Marijuana Misstep Governor Christie last week tried to keep in place his flawed medical marijuana regulations and to avoid the embarrassment of a legislative resolution that called for either four changes or a full re-write of the regs. He thought he was being clever in getting Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Trenton), who led passage of the resolution in the Assembly, to join him in a press conference where they jointly announced a compromise that would require only two changes in the unworkable, restrictive regulations. Christie's effort backfired. Sen. Nick Scutari (D-Linden), who sponsored the bill in the Senate and was not part of the compromise plan, says the deal does not eliminate significant hurdles to patients and distributors, as activists widely agree. Senate Democrats on Monday plan a vote on the resolution to force the governor to rewrite the marijuana regs. For more information on Christie's botched program go to this diary.
Threading a Path for Teacher Tenure Reform Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex), as a prelude to drafting a tenure reform bill, held a hearing this week where a Colorado state senator testified that tenure should be a job protection first earned and then maintained over time - not a near guarantee as it has become for teachers in many states, New Jersey included. In the meantime NJEA announced a plan that would allow tenure charge cases to be handled by an arbitrator instead of a state Administrative Law Judge. NJEA's plan does not include lengthening the probationary period before teachers get tenure, providing merit pay for individual teachers, nor linking teacher evaluations to student achievement, which both the governor and the Federal Education Department largely support. Senator Ruiz has a tough balancing act in enacting good legislation that will benefit school children and simultaneously gain acceptance in a partisan, divided atmosphere where the governor not only delights in bullying and name-calling tactics but has such visceral dislike for the NJEA.
.....from a happily chaotic Thanksgiving family week in Los Angeles. Hope you all had a great holiday, and are now enjoying Hanukkah. If you are not lighting the Menorah, make sure you at least eat a couple of potato latkes.
Press Conference at 11 a.m. today in Trenton on government transparency. We will announce our new and very stringent Pay-to-Play bill. This should be part of the "tool kit" because political contributions from state and local contractors definitely add to the cost of government in our state and contribute to our escalating property taxes. This new bill will establish one state-wide standard in New Jersey, and I've been working on it with the help of the Citizens Campaign. I will be joined by my colleague Assemblyman Gordon Johnson. We will also call attention to our newly updated Open Public Meetings Act and Open Public Records Act and will ask that they be posted for Committee hearings in December or January. These bills go hand-in-hand with the new issue-advocacy disclosure bill sponsored by Senator Barbara Buono and me. The passage of these bills together will decrease the cost of government and will increase government transparency. We've been waiting patiently to hear if the Republicans in the legislature and the Governor will join in a bipartisan effort to get these bill passed.
Medical Marijuana "agreement"? I was a little surprised at the news report and look forward to hearing personally from Senator Nick Scutari. Senator Scutari has been an outstanding advocate for this important issue, and if an "agreement" was reached without his input, at the very least I am disappointed. My husband, Irwin, died from cancer almost 12 years ago. We were both deprived of any meaningful communication during his last days with us because he was treated with morphine. Perhaps medical marijuana could have made him comfortable and would have enabled us to share more experiences during those days. Of course, I will never know that for sure. However, what I do know, is that patients and their doctors should have as much right to be treated with medical marijuana as they today have a right to be prescribed morphine or oxycontin or any other controlled dangerous substance to treat pain in terminally ill patients. Is anybody asking a Doc to warn a terminally ill person to substitute another less effective medication for morphine? Is a doctor forced to tell a seriously ill patient that he must wean that patient off oxycontin every three months? How demeaning to both patient and medical professional. Please don't tell me that my good colleague, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, made a bad deal with the Governor! I guess we'll soon find out.
Will be chairing the Senate Health, Human Services & Senior Services Committee this afternoon. Probably one of my bills which will cause the most comment is the requirement that certified advance practice nurses must continue to be supervised by anesthesiologists in the administration of general anesthesia. Lots of pros and cons on both sides of this issue, and I'm sure we'll hear it all.
So we have a busy December ahead of us with more committee days and another voting session. We'll be dealing with more "tool kit" legislation and another try at women's access to family planning. Every Republican in the Assembly voted "No" or abstained on covering more folks under medicaid for family planning and basic medical care. A bill which will result in $9 for every $1 put up by the State. What is wrong with these folks? What has this Governor given them to make so many of them march in unison while they raise so few questions? It's hard to understand and I must admit, it makes me particularly discouraged about the women of the legislature working together on issues of importance to our families.
Blue Jerseyans & friends Hoernlein, Lento, Parano, Weinberg & Mazza
Hey, a few of us "North Jersey/Blue Jersey" followers, writers and bloggers were invited to join Carol Hoernlein (and Eric) to celebrate a wonderful housewarming in their "tiny house with the big kitchen". Nick Lento, Carol H, Rocco (of "let's draft Rocco" and "I still love the Governor" while "I still love Rocco") Mazza, Dave Parano, Chief Ron Holloway and many others had a lovely afternoon with lots of good company, good food, political talk and we're all connected through Blue Jersey discussions. Great fun for those of us Bergen County types! Great to see Carol looking so well, happy and coming back to our Blue Jersey blogs.
Note to Jay Lassiter & Rosi Efthim: Maybe you can find Keith Chaudruc of Madison who took on the Governor at the Parsippany Town Meeting and get his side of the story for our own Blue Jersey UTube. According to news reports, Mr. Chaudruc was escorted on and off the stage by a state trooper and never got Mr. Christie to answer any of his questions. Might be an interesting interview.
Today is World AIDS Day. Sadly, on account of Governor Chris Christie, folks with HIV/AIDS (plus cancer) won't have legal access to medical marijuana to help manage their treatments.
I hope you'll take a peek at this video and PLEASE pass it around to anyone whose heart might need softening. Because being terminally ill is hard enough without being a criminal to boot.
Jimmy Margulies posted a cartoon on Thanksgiving that illustrates perfectly what our ideologue Governor is trying to do to some of New Jersey's most fragile citizens.
All over New Jersey, there are people who are forced to go underground to do what they need to do to get what relief they can from the pain and discomfort of being sick. Support for a sensible state-sponsored program to grow and dispense weed is overwhelming and the program passed by the NJ legislature is already quite conservative, thank you. It's unacceptable - it's gross and disgusting - for a Governor with his eye on his own future and the drug-phobic social "conservatives" he thinks he has to win in places that are not New Jersey to be allowed to stand in the way of relief for vulnerable New Jerseyans. Star-Ledger Editorial Board this morning said Christie is misusing his power to draft rules to subvert it. That's right, and you're going to hear that from more and more sources as Christie paints himself into a fool's corner.
Christie's rules:
Doctors would be required to try and talk patients - even terminal patients - out of marijuana use, at least every 3 months.
Cap the level of THC, so patients get less of the "working" part of marijuana.
Ban dispensaries from a 1,000-foot ring around schools (it won't be very easy to locate dispensaries in cities - you know, where people live).
Dept. of Health would be kept from amending the list of acceptable illness for pot treatment for 2 years.
Everything about how the governor is using the power of his office amounts to undermining the intent of it. NJ Senate votes on overturning Christie's rules Dec. 13. Assembly's already done it.
NJ Senators, I'm frontpaging this, to lob this post right to you - as a reminder of what's at stake for some people in your vote today on a resolution to force state officials to revise the overly restrictive rules which you know violate the intent of NJ's new medical marijuana law - promoted by Rosi
Medical Marijuana Failure to many New Jersey residents,
I am going on my 14th year living with multiple sclerosis and 7th year using medical marijuana to treat it (when I am fortunate enough to score.) After my review of the State's Idea of compassion, many patients that could've benefit from the program will now fall short by more than 50%. This is because along with the strictest regulations in the Universe, many will never be able to afford to spend $200 on a State LIC along with the $500+ per oz, after private delivery fees, etc., etc. And I do live in a School Zone, what does that mean for my delivery?
If my Iroquois Native/American Grandmother were still alive and knew I wasn't allowed to grow my medicine, even just a single plant it would be a whole different set of rules for her uproots. For now I will stay home and struggle with neuropathic pain whenever I can't afford it.
"Legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora that would declare the Christie administration's draft regulations for New Jersey's medicinal marijuana law as inconsistent with the law's intent was advanced Monday by an Assembly panel."
(from the NJ Assembly website)
This is a quick-and-dirty version of my testimony to an Assembly committee. A similar version went before the Senate Health committee earlier that day. Shortly after these remarks, the Assembly panel unanimously rebuked the Governor's over-burdensome Medical Marijuana plans.
The law as enacted - and signed by former Gov. Jon Corzine in January - is already the toughest among the medical marijuana laws passed by 13 other states in recent years. Christie's heavy-handed modifications are most definitely a reflection of his aversion to it from the start. He already sought to delay the program's implementation for a year. This might sound like minutes to Washington bureaucrats, but for a patient wasting away from AIDS or suffering from chemo-inducing nausea, it could very well be a lifetime.
This might be the future - citizens work hard to change things democratically, in this case, marijuana reform, and politicians and institutions that don't like it, get their revenge in the rule-making process, which is not so democratic. Nor very liberty-loving.
Anybody got any suggestions how tomake our Governor pay a political price for his (universally) unpopular position? Let's brainstorm.
Although a law was passed in January legalizing medical marijuana in NJ, terminally ill patients in the state are still unclear about A) when the law goes into effect and B) who can qualify. But that might all change in a few days.
NJ Residents that may qualify for legal medical cannabis have been looking forward to October 1, 2010. After legislators granted a 90-day delay to the program, this is now when patients hope to see some progress.
Yet, 10/1/2010 is not a deadline. Technically the state has a 30-day window in which to act.
For some, the delay was already too much. Vietnam Veteran Robert "Bob" Van Sant Jr. of Jackson, NJ passed away in August from cancer. Both the disease and the attempted treatments racked his body.
Did you miss last night's scintillating edition of BlueJerseyRadio? You know, the one where Jeff and I served up the pithiest political dish in the land? The one with chairman John Wisniewski rallying the troops to keep flogging Governor Christie whose latest hissy cost New Jersey students nearly a half billion dollars?
I've been wondering why it is that we need a special distribution method for medical marijuana, that an entire new method for distributing a prescription drug is necessary.
We have trained people who can measure doses, verify prescriptions, record sales, report to the government, etc. in pharmacies and licensed pharmacists. Why not use them instead of spending the money, time, experimentation and policing of a new system of dispensaries?
If the corporate pharmacies -- CVS, Eckerd, etc. -- don't want to do it then this is a way to help the local mom and pop stores to compete.
The only reason I can possibly see for opposing this idea is that people with sticks up their asses don't want to get their anti-depressants and codeine next to pot smokers.
Are there other reasons? Am I being completely obtuse? What is the story here? Can anyone help me here?
ATCs are Alternative Treatment Centers. Promoted by Rosi Efthim
In her recent weekend NJN interview Commissioner Dr. Alaigh shed little light or enthusiasm on the Medical Marijuana program: she expressed her belief that the Governor was a strong proponent of health matters (yet to be demonstrated,) and her realization as a doctor that the program may be beneficial (damning with faint praise.) She also showed concern that ATC's not be widely available and that because the law was complex it would take considerable more time to establish policies and procedures. They were words of a cautious administrator with no sense of urgency or advocacy for this issue.
What might have been a highly beneficial, straightforward law has devolved into a mess. Christie-led Republican legislators tinkered with it during the lameduck session, and six months later the program remains mired in uncertainties and delays. The amendment passed this week does only one thing: it delays the effective date of enactment by 90 days until October 1. The original law still provides 90 additional days, in effect until Jan 1, 2011, for finalizing regulations. Significant uncertainties remain to be resolved: who will produce the cannabis and who will sell it.
There have been reports that the State would like Rutgers to produce the cannabis and hospitals to sell it. That is not what the law says. The law requires alternative treatment centers (ATC's) to be the ones both selling and producing the marijuana. It is unlikely that Rutgers would want to become a seller and it is unclear whether it even wants to produce it. Also by law the first six ATC's have to be non-profits, but some hospitals are for-profit and even-nonprofit ones are unlikely to be enthusiastic about selling cannabis. The ideal non-profit ATC's would initially be community-based agencies located mostly in urban areas, but security and high costs make marijuana cultivation there impractical.
The solution is for an amendment to the law which allows the Health Department to select several producers who are not required to become ATC's, and Rutgers could certainly be one of them. With several producers, as opposed to a monopoly, there is more likelihood of a steady, dependable source of high quality cannabis at a reasonable price. By law the first six approved ACT's would still have to be non-profits, but they would not be required to cultivate it.
There needs to be the amendment proposed above, some serious butt-kicking, and possibly a lawsuit for this critical service to see the light of day.
New Jersey's hard-fought medical marijuana program was supposed to be up and running next month. July 18. But Gov. Christie has made clear that this particular law signed by Jon Corzine is not a priority for his administration, so he's wanted a 6-month to 1-year delay."
If legislation just introduced is passed, Christie'll get his delay. But not nearly the delay he wanted. Asm Reed Gusciora, a sponsor of the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, has a bill calling for October 1 implementation, now out of committee and headed to a vote by the full Assembly, most likely Monday. I'd have trouble blaming Reed Gusciora for this delay, or Nick Scutari. Their efforts seem in good faith, grappling with a disinterested, heel-dragging governor who hasn't done his due diligence.
Clearly, the administration has not done the work they needed to launch on time. In fact, less than a week ago he threw a monkeywrench - proposing to amend the law to require that all the pot be grown at Rutgers University. A centralized production and distribution scheme that would make New Jersey's law - already the most restrictive of 14 states with compassionate use programs - even more restrictive. As a side complaint, one that would eliminate entrepreneurial opportunities for farmers or other small business folks ready to grow.
NORML - the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws - is against it, pointing to a long, unsuccessful fight by the University of Massachusetts to grow marijuana for medical research purposes.
I'm not sick. I don't know what it's like to feel the kind of pain and unease those with cancer feel. Or AIDS. Lou Gehrig's disease. Muscular dystrophy. Multiple sclerosis. No clue.
But if Christie gets his breathing room and fails to make sure this program is launched and implemented fairly, without extra strain on unwell people ... Well, then my guess is the roly-poly voodoo dolls are going to come out. And so are the long pins. Chris Christie needs to feel the pain other people he serves feel every day. Somehow I think his powers of imagination are limited.
What should be medical policies for the Health Department to resolve has become a political matter with interference from the governor's office. Our governor should relax his heavy-handed micromanaging ways and let the experts make the decisions. According to today's Star Ledger, "Gov. Chris Christie's administration said Rutgers University's agricultural center should grow the pot and hospitals should dispense it." In addition, lead sponsor Senator Scutari seems poised to seek a 90 day extension.
Because of the cost and security problems of dispensaries in urban areas trying to cultivate the cannabis, it makes sense to seek other growers. Such requires a change in the Medical Marijuana Law, which the legislature should enact. Rutgers University would be an excellent choice, but it should not be the only provider. Poor weather or glitches in the indoor cultivating process can result in supply disruption. The goal is to produce consistently high quality and quantity at a reasonable price, best achieved through multiple cultivators.
The institutional, antiseptic, and bureaucratic, atmosphere of hospitals is not the best setting for dispensing the cannabis. Non-profit organizations which already provide multiple services to the potential clients can better serve these patients in helping them with required paperwork, counseling, and support sessions. Purchasing cannabis is not like buying a loaf of bread. The complexity and restrictions of the law call for the involvement of social service agencies which have the patience, expertise and experience to assist patients, liaison with physicians and provide the extra services which are not "cost effective" for a hospital.
The original law stipulated that the program should be implemented by July 1 with an additional 90 days to October 1 to review and finalize the regulations. The Health Department has been asking for more time to draw up the policies and procedures. If the legislature agrees to grant an additional 90 day extension until January 1,such should be the last extension. Governor Christie must end his meddling, and the Department of Health must move forward rapidly to provide this critical medical service without delay. Medical marijuana: the clock keeps ticking.
As the Department of Health works to complete its policies, procedures, and regulations in order to implement the Compassionate Medical Marijuana Act, below are some suggestions regarding concerns that have been raised.
The law contemplates the Alternative Treatment Centers (ATC's) as not only distribution but cultivation sites. Much of the cannabis will be distributed by ATC's located in urban cities, but these are not good sites for cultivating marijuana. High security and space rental expenses would render it cost-ineffective.
The cultivation should be done elsewhere by several experienced growers who have the financial where-with-all and ample experience to produce sufficient high quantity and quality and continue in business in spite of occasional bad weather or glitches that impede indoor cultivation.
There have been concerns expressed about transporting the cannabis to the ATC's. For many years methadone clinics have successfully used transportation services for their even more expensive product.
Providing the ATC's with cannabis at a price that allows them to sell it slightly below or at the same approximate "street" price is important. With a too-high price people in need will return to street vendors. (Also if it is resold at a very low price street vendors will retaliate against the ATC's who they will view as competitors.)
This law imposes a heavy burden on the ATC's. It is important for the Health Department to simplify procedures as much as possible. ATC's will have many costs and procedures that street vendors don't always have: liaison with local police authorities, State permitting/application fee, liaison and education with physicians, indoor space usage, security guards, explaining the law/requirements to each patient, regulatory monitoring and compliance, processing the registry ID card, multiple criminal history background checks, reporting requirements, providing support group meetings, and more.
Although provisions requested by Governor-elect Christie during the lameduck legislative session made this law unusually onerous and restrictive, the Department of Health should speed up its effort to complete the regulations. This is not rocket science. People in serious pain have every reason to expect their government to act with all deliberate speed and to have regulations completed by the deadline set by law.
Rules governing the new Medical Marijuana law are supposed to be in place on August 1st, but the Christie administration has said they need an additional 6 months to one year. In the process of asking for the delay, they provide false choice:
"We are now going to become a distributor of a controlled substance," said Christie's Press Secretary Mike Drewniak in explaining why the Governor, who supports the law, wants more time.
"It's a complex matter," Drewniak said, adding: "Do you want it done now or do you want it done right?"
We're not the first state to handle this complex matter, so it can be done right and now, it's not one or the other. But while the Christie administration delays, people in pain continue to suffer and supporters of the new law are ready to hit the courts:
NORML-NJ, a marijuana advocacy group, said it is ready to sue if the proposed rule isn't enacted by August 1st.
"Absolutely, absolutely," said NORML Executive Director Anne Davis. "It's a law ... and we have a legal team ready to go."
They said they will not accept any delay. Perhaps the most profound statement came from Jim Miller, co-founder of the New Jersey Coalition for Medical Marijuana, who said he just wanted more time with his wife who had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and passed away 7 years ago. He just wanted more time with her, but learned this lesson the hard way:
"I'd like to tell the governor sometimes you don't get what you ask for,'' Miller said. "Patients can't wait anymore.''
Maybe if they stop spending time researching a lawsuit to placate the right wing base, they could get the new law implemented. It would be great if they focused on enforcing existing state law, rather than trying to overturn existing federal law.
Gov. Chris Christie, who made opposition to a medical marijuana law for ill New Jerseyans a campaign issue, now says he supports the law passed right before his inauguration and won't make it more restrictive like he said he would when he was running. But Christie wants to delay the kickoff of NJ's program until January or July, 2011. And that prompted our Quote of the Day from Sen. Loretta Weinberg:
I understand this governor has some questions, but I would like to point out to everybody, including the governor, this is the law.
Tick Tock, Governor. Tick Tock. Bear in mind that when the lady in the video talks about a July start, she was talking about July this year, not next year.
The measure, termed the most restrictive in the nation, was approved by the New Jersey Legislature in January 2010 and scheduled to take effect six months later. Regulations were to be in place by October, when six state-regulated pharmacy-type dispensaries would start selling to qualified patients.
But on May 21, senior staff in the Governor's office suggested that the timetable be delayed for six to 12 months, said the bill's chief sponsor, Sen. Nicolas Scutari (D-Union).
The Christie administration cited logistics, but the head of the Judiciary committee wants more information because he's "not inclined to grant the full wish" and the Legislators would have to pass a bill for it to happen:
I said, 'Send me a memo on what your issues are, and I'll consider it, but I'm not going to give you that much time.' It's been in effect since January," Scutari said.
It's already the strictest law in the nation. I get that they want to do it right and that it's complex, but we're the 14th state to take this step, so it's not like there aren't models to work off of. While they spend time delaying, sick people will continue to suffer in pain.
Recently, the special sentencing unit, formerly known as death row, has finally been dismantled after three years of old squirty being put out to pasture.
For the record, I am glad that the death penalty is no longer an option, NOT ONLY because I think killing is wrong, no matter what; AND that people of colour are disproportionately targeted, but because...it is not in the convict's interest to live. Think about one Jesse Timmendequas, the man who brutally raped and murdered 7 year old Megan Kanka. He is quite possibly the most hated man in New Jersey's correctional system. Had we put a needle in his arm and made him do the potassium chloride cha-cha, he would have shuffled off this mortal coil and not had to think about how everyone hates him. But since we granted "clemency" to him, he will spend the rest of his days locked up for most of the day knowing that nobody will ever love him again. Think about what that life is like?
But back on topic, this dismantling comes as the man who put ole' squirty out to pasture was just recently replaced by a former tough-talking federal prosecutor (the fed gov loves its three needles). This puzzles me, as the abolition of capital punishment was extremely controversial and many conservatives as well as Democrats wanted the death penalty back, why wouldn't Christie be all gung ho about restoring capital punishment. Maybe it could be its not politically expedient, maybe it could be he's focused more on his Reaganomics, or maybe he's actually is heeding the Catholic church's advice on this issue.
But its a good sign that capital punishment is gone and is not coming back. We have joined Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and even some of Latin America in removing the death penalty as an option, and now it is possibly as settled as some of those countries.
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