[420 Girl]

A bill pending in the New Jersey legislature -- known as the New Jersey Compassionate Medical Marijuana Act -- is gaining increasing support from a group of respected members of the health care system. The New Jersey Nurses Association, the Academy of Family Physicians and the Hospice and Palliative Care associations are just a few of the professional groups offering support for the passage of the New Jersey Compassionate Medical Marijuana Act.

Currently, the vast majority of marijuana arrests are made under the state law, rather than the federal law. Therefore, changing state laws has the practical effect of helping medically ill patients from being arrested for prescribed marijuana treatment, which can result in fines, court time and forfeiture of property.

Under current New Jersey law, possession of 50 grams or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor, carrying a possible six-month prison term and/or a $1,000.00 fine. Possession of over 50 grams is a felony and carries a possible prison term of 18 months and/or $25,000.00 fine. The punishment and fine are increased if the possession occurs within 1000 feet of a school. The penalties for production and distribution of marijuana in New Jersey are even more severe than those for possession.

New Jersey would not be the first state to pass marijuana legislation designed to legalize marijuana: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington and Montana all have passed medical marijuana acts. Increasingly, states are passing legislation designed to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana, and changing penalties for possessions of small quantities from the criminal courts to the civil courts. Arizona passed a law in favor of medical marijuana in 1997, but the legislators left it up to the FDA to approve marijuana first before allowing state physicians to prescribe it. In 1998, the voters rejected a referendum by a vote of 57% to 43%. In 2003, the governor of Maryland signed a law allowing defendants on trial for the use or possession of marijuana to introduce evidence of medical necessity and physician approval, to be considered by the court as a mitigating factor. Most recently in the 2008 election, Michigan passed a referendum permitting the use of medical marijuana.

Most recently, marijuana was decriminalized in Massachusetts. The New Jersey legislation differs from the bill passed in Massachusetts, as it applies only in the case of medical marijuana, rather than the broader scope of marijuana decriminalization among all adults.

When updating their marijuana laws to cope with the potential legality of medical marijuana, states have encountered a tough situation: At the law enforcement level, it is difficult to separate the production and distribution of legal marijuana from that of illegal marijuana. Drug dealers try to blend in, and federal agencies such as the DEA and the FBI do not separate their enforcement efforts.

The ramifications for the passage of this bill are still somewhat unknown: How will marijuana be distributed in New Jersey? What happens to a person who crosses from New Jersey into another state where marijuana is illegal and makes a purchase? Who decides who can or cannot receive medical marijuana? On the answers to these and similar questions rides the future of efforts to legalize marijuana in New Jersey.

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