Marijuana Blog

Chris Goldstein, a volunteer for the Coalition for Medical Marijuana NJ, recently wrote an op-ed piece on NJ.com about the glacial pace of medical marijuana implementation in his state and how Governor Chris Christie is stonewalling.

Pointing out that Christie recently proclaimed The War on Drugs “a failure,” Chris Goldstein says the governor fights a war against marijuana users every day.

“As a medical marijuana advocate and activist,” Chris says, “I have interacted with all levels of his administration: the Department of Health and Senior Services, the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of Consumer Affairs and many others. From my perspective, Christie has fully committed all of his resources to the failed policy of marijuana prohibition.

“Christie’s much-touted new drug policy is S881, a law that will send nonviolent drug offenders into mandatory addiction treatment instead of prisons. Unfortunately, this law will primarily apply to cannabis consumers, because there are more arrests in New Jersey for marijuana every year than for cocaine, methamphetamine or heroin.

“Christie has spent three years with ideological and legal stonewalling of the medical marijuana law. This means medical marijuana users will be vulnerable to his forced rehab plan. This is nothing less than flagrant discrimination, a massive waste of resources.

“There is no detox for cannabis because it is a nontoxic substance. While individuals can build dependence, it certainly does not require six months to a year of in-patient addiction treatment, with the taxpayers footing the bill.”

The roadblock that medical marijuana laws hit in many states is that of politicians trying to do too much. They feel like there has to be a myriad of restrictions and rules around medical cannabis, as if it were a dangerous thing. But the only thing dangerous about medical marijuana is lack of access to it.

Source: http://blog.nj.com