Marijuana Policy Project

I was in the room when patient and family advocates found out the N.J. Assembly Health Committee was moving the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act forward. However, the committee's action came with significant changes, including permitting only the patients themselves to pick up their medical marijuana at alternative treatment centers, not their caregivers, and also eliminating the ability for home cultivation. ("Medical marijuana bill advances," June 5.)

The looks on the faces of those patients and their families were of hope and joy juxtaposed with serious concerns.

Those in need of medical marijuana are often too sick or disabled to pick up their medications. If they can't go themselves, the bill now states they would have to use a private courier, which would be a financial burden for those already living on fixed incomes.

Further complicating safe access for qualified patients, the grow-at-home provision was removed, making New Jersey's proposed law the most restrictive in the country.

All of the necessary legal safeguards to tightly limit the potential for abuse were incorporated into the Senate bill, which was passed on Feb. 23. The best-practice provisions included in the Senate bill, which avoided overly restricting access and overburdening sick and dying people, should be restored in the Assembly substitute and passed with no further delay.