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New Jersey's medical marijuana program will undergo a major overhaul to allow patients to qualify and obtain cannabis much more easily under a Senate committee-approved bill on Monday.
This follows years of complaints that the medical marijuana program was too restrictive to meet the needs of patients. On the same day, lawmakers discussed a measure to legalize weeds for recreational purposes.
The measure will bear the name "Jake's Law" in honor of Howell's Jake Honig, a 7-year-old boy who died of brain cancer in January. Jake was helped by cannabis oil, but his parents were forced to use it sparingly because of the strict limits imposed by the state on the quantity that can be purchased. These limits would be relaxed in the new measure.
Since March, when Governor Phil Murphy expanded the list of qualified conditions and reduced the cost of patient registration, the number of registrations doubled from 18,500 to 37,500, according to the report. Department of State Health.
However, there have been complaints in the program that the six licensed clinics are too few and too far away to provide an adequate supply of cannabis.
Under the bill approved by the Senate Committee on Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens, a newly created Cannabis Regulatory Commission – which will control both the medical program and the recreation industry expected – will solicit candidates for six new 90-day growing activities.
The bill (S10) was passed by 7 votes to 1. Senator Ronald Rice did not vote.
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Patients enrolled in the New Jersey Medical Marijuana Program would be allowed to purchase 2.5 ounces each month from January 2019 to July 2019, compared to 2 ounces present, and after July, a maximum of 3 ounces per month. . People in palliative care or who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness would have no purchase limit.
Increasing the amount of cannabis sold was a request from Jake Honig's parents. Mike and Janet Honig of Howell bought dried cannabis and made their own oil for their son Jake, but the two-ounce limit set by law and state regulation only lasts two weeks, said Mike Honig to the committee.
Thanks to the oil, "he did well in school and played basketball" when doctors predicted that he would suffer convulsions, dizziness and other debilitating symptoms said Mike Honig. "But we had to use it sparingly."
The oil did not raise his son, said Honig. "Morphine has earned him his maximum," he added, adding, "Oxy has done nothing for his pain."
The chairman of the committee and sponsor of the bill, Senator Joseph Vitale of D-Middlesex, told the family that the law would be called Jake's Law in honor of their son.
According to (S10), the bill:
- To give advanced practice nurses and nurse practitioners the power to recommend patients to the program;
- Authorize patients undergoing medical marijuana treatment from 32 US states where it is also legal to buy and consume cannabis in New Jersey;
- Protect registered patients from losing their jobs "unless an employer establishes on a preponderance of evidence that the lawful use of cannabis for medical purposes has compromised the ability of the employee to perform his professional responsibilities; "
- Protect patients from the loss of visits or custody of their children as they are enrolled in the program;
- Phase out sales tax of 6.625% over five years.
Senator Robert Singer, R-Ocean reprimanded Vitale for allowing medicinal cannabis to remain taxable. "It's shameful – we do not tax any other medicine."
The bill also gives health facilities the power to be designated "caregivers" and to administer cannabis to its registered patients. However, Lisa McCauley Parles, the mother of a 28-year-old autistic son and suffering from many chronic diseases, urged the committee to broaden the meaning of the term helping institutional.
People with intellectual disabilities could benefit from cannabis, but if they lived in a group home or other facility, a family member would be required to administer the drug themselves, she said.
"This limitation puts a heavy burden on family members and unduly excludes people with intellectual disabilities from the benefits of having an employee administer marijuana for medical purposes," said Parles.
Vitale said he would explore this idea and consider amending the bill.
The bill was immediately transferred to the meeting of the Assembly Credits Committee held on the other side of the Statehouse Hall in Trenton. A vote was scheduled later in the day.
An unusual association between the Assembly's appropriations committee and the Senate's Budget and Supply Committee was about to vote on a bill that would legalize the sale and use of cannabis for 21 years. years and older.
Whatever is approved on Monday, he still has to adopt the 40 members of the Senate and Assembly before moving on to Murphy.
Susan K. Livio can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
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