[420 Girl]

Pennsylvania's neighbors to the east are onto something sensible: making medicinal marijuana legal.

The New Jersey state Senate passed a bill 22-16 Monday that would legalize marijuana smoking by those with chronic and terminal ailments. They could grow up to six plants themselves or use marijuana grown at an authorized treatment center.

NJ Senate passes medical marijuana bill The senate legislation puts the Garden State on the road already traveled by 13 other states that have approved medical marijuana. The measure now goes before the New Jersey Assembly, unlike in most other states where it has been a ballot issue. If it's approved — and legislators might want to heed a poll indicating that 86 percent of residents support legalization — the legislature will have acknowledged medical experts who say that medicinal marijuana alleviates pain and nausea among patients with cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, AIDS and HIV even when other drugs fail.

Television host Montel Williams brought his star power and personal story to the New Jersey legislature in 2006 during a public hearing. A California resident and registered medical marijuana user there, he told lawmakers that marijuana helps alleviate chronic knee and foot pain from his multiple sclerosis.

Medical marijuana remains highly controversial; critics worry that legalizing medicinal use would also promote illegal use of the drug. But in that sense, marijuana is hardly any different from many prescription drugs. Medical marijuana could be managed in much the same way as approved pharmaceuticals.

Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington all have approved medicinal marijuana. New Jersey could be the 14th. Then, maybe eventually, a sensible approach to this potentially palliative, yet illegal, drug, might actually cross the Delaware River and inspire legislators in the Keystone State to follow suit.

One poll indicates that as many as 42 percent of Americans have tried marijuana. It's too early to advocate legalizing the substance for recreational purposes, though many have argued that it could be regulated and taxed much like tobacco and alcohol. This would also relieve crowded criminal dockets and prisons, and boost much-needed tax revenues.

Regardless of the merits of that argument, New Jersey lawmakers should recognize the demonstrated need for the use of the plant for medicinal purposes, and make it legal for approved patients who can benefit from it.

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