Title:
New Jersey to become the nation’s 14th medical marijuana state!
Message:
Great news! Yesterday, January 11, the last day of its lame duck legislative session, the New Jersey Legislature voted to pass medical marijuana legislation that will protect seriously ill patients from arrest and regulate the distribution of their medicine.
The Assembly voted 48-14 to pass A. 804, which was amended to reflect compromise language that drew from the previous Assembly bill version and a broader bill that had passed the Senate last year. The Senate then also voted to pass A. 804 25-13. The bill will now go to Governor Jon Corzine for his signature. Gov. Corzine has said he will sign the bill into law before he leaves office on January 19. It will then go into effect six months later. This is an incredibly exciting development for patients in New Jersey and across the country, and represents the culmination of a long year’s worth of work by New Jersey patients and advocates.
The Drug Policy Alliance New Jersey and the Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey have done an amazing job leading the lobbying efforts to pass this important legislation. The eyes of the nation were on the Garden State, and its legislature did not let us down. After the law is implemented, it is likely that there will be at least six dispensaries for patients to acquire their medicine, two in each part of the state.
Thank you for supporting MPP and our allies in New Jersey.
