[420 Girl]

Gov. Jon S. Corzine said Tuesday that he supports and would sign a bill allowing medicinal marijuana use, but added that economic issues are his top priority.

"I don't think that we ought to be having fights on issues that don't go to the heart of the needs of a broad majority of folks," Corzine told reporters Tuesday afternoon. "I think that this is one that if it can be moved expeditiously because there's a consensus, I think that's great. I have studied the issue and I think that if properly structured, it's an initiative that's sensible."

The Compassionate Use Medicinal Marijuana Act would allow state-licensed patients to possess as much as 1 ounce of marijuana and six plants for medical treatment. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, and Nicholas Scutari, D-Middlesex, Somerset, Union, also would create Medicinal Marijuana Alternate Treatment Centers.

The possession and distribution of marijuana would remain illegal under federal law, but advocates said it would essentially decriminalize that, because most prosecutions are under state laws.

The state Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee approved the bill by a 6-1 vote Monday. It now faces a full Senate vote. While it has been discussed in General Assembly committees, a vote has not been scheduled. Thirteen other states have similar laws.

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