Marijuana Policy Project

New Jersey lawmakers will soon consider whether to pass into law the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act (S-88 and A-933). The act would remove the statewide criminal penalties for the use, possession and cultivation of a small amount of marijuana for qualified patients under a program administered by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS). The Coalition for Medical Marijuana'New Jersey (CMM-NJ) urges lawmakers to support the bill as it is written. Some lawmakers have said that the bill is too broad'that too many patients will qualify for medical marijuana when it passes. CMM-NJ opposes any attempt to restrict the diseases or conditions that would qualify a New Jersey patient for medical marijuana. This is a question that is properly left only to the treating physician. There are, moreover, a number of rare conditions that respond well to medical marijuana.

The federal government, in its only existing investigational new drug (IND) trial of marijuana, recognizes nail-patella syndrome as well as multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis as conditions that qualify for medical marijuana. These two conditions respond well to marijuana therapy, as do the more common conditions included in the IND study, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis. The federal government has been treating patients in this study for up to 27 years by giving them marijuana. Each month the patients in this IND study receive from the federal government a cannister that holds 300 pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes, that may be consumed at the rate of 10 or more per day. All of the patients in this study are doing well'their conditions are controlled, side effects are minimal, and marijuana is the only medicine they are using for their conditions.

Here in New Jersey, a mother contacted CMM-NJ to beg that her son be allowed medical marijuana for a condition called Friedreich's ataxia. She said, “ There are about 6,000 people in the country who have this disease. There is no cure and marijuana is the only thing that works for the pain. It's not easy watching your child suffer from pain when a simple solution like marijuana can ease the muscle spasms, bone and joint pain, muscle pain and involuntary eye movements that this disease (causes).” Nothing relieves her son's symptoms as safely and as effectively as marijuana. Who could face this mother and say, “We will allow medical marijuana in New Jersey only for cancer and multiple sclerosis, but not for your son's condition”?

And what about Roberta'a kindly, New Jersey grandmother who suffers from a very painful condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy? Her condition is progressive (getting worse) and incurable. Roberta plans to commit suicide when the pains get too great and the medical intervention too oppressive. She fears that she will eventually be turned into “a vegetable” by the opiates and other pain relievers doctors now prescribe for her. She wants to try medical marijuana as a last ditch measure before suicide. Who could say to Roberta, “ No, it is better that you commit suicide than have a trial of medical marijuana”?

No one can foresee all of the conditions that might respond to medical marijuana. The language of S-88 and its identical Assembly bill, A-933, is appropriately inclusive. In addition to cancer, glaucoma and AIDS patients, the bill would protect any patient who uses medical marijuana under a doctor's recommendation and who suffers from, “a chronic or debilitating disease or medical condition...that produces one or more of the following: cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe or chronic pain, severe nausea; seizures; severe and persistent muscle spasms (as from) multiple sclerosis or Crohn's disease; or any other medical condition or its treatment that is approved by the (NJDHSS).”

There are no medical reasons whatsoever that would support the exclusion of marijuana therapy from any of the above diseases, conditions or symptoms. A physician's first credo is to “Do no harm.” Marijuana is a remarkably safe drug that has never caused a fatal overdose. It has the widest possible therapeutic index, that is, a comparison of the amount of a drug required for a therapeutic dose to the amount that would produce a toxic reaction. Some drugs, like digoxin, have a very narrow therapeutic index and their dosages must be monitored carefully with blood levels. Marijuana, with its broad therapeutic index, is quite safe for self-dosing. It would be arbitrary and capricious for lawmakers to restrict or limit the conditions that would qualify a patient for medical marijuana. Medical marijuana must be seen as part of a comprehensive plan of patient care.

Nor should lawmakers fear that medical marijuana will be recommended irresponsibly by physicians. There are already processes in place to correct physician irresponsibility, including license revocation and criminal penalties. Physicians routinely prescribe controlled substances that are far more dangerous and addicting than marijuana every day.

It is the right of every New Jersey patient to have access to the best possible treatment available, which may include marijuana. Lawmakers have the opportunity to ensure that right for Roberta with her chronic pain, the son with Friedreich's ataxia, and the tens of thousands of other New Jersey patients who are suffering needlessly because they are denied appropriate medical treatment. CMM-NJ urges lawmakers to adopt the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act as it is written.

Ken Wolski, RN, MPA, is executive director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey.