The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee conducted a hearing and then voted favorably on “The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act” S119, on Monday, December 15th in the State House Annex. Six of the senate committee members voted in favor of the bill and only one member voted against the bill. There were two abstentions.Nick Scutari, the original senate sponsor of the bill, argued passionately for its approval. He said there was, “No price we would not pay, no limits we would not go” to protect our loved ones from suffering needlessly. He also quoted the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine (IOM) report when he said to those who argued that we should wait for FDA approval of marijuana: “There is little comfort in the promise of a better drug 10 years from now.” Sen. Scutari also noted how the IOM’s recommendation to conduct clinical trials of medical marijuana has been ignored by the federal government.Many professional healthcare organizations have endorsed medical marijuana and a number of them testified to this at the Senate Health Committee hearing. Dr. Denis Petro explained how he conducted the first American study of marijuana’s beneficial effects for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients that was published in 1981. Testimony was also heard from members of the Drug Policy Alliance and from supporters of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey, Inc. (CMMNJ). A representative of Prairie Plant Systems was videoconferenced into the hearing to explain how medical marijuana was grown and distributed in Canada.CMMNJ applauds the committee’s vote as this represents significant progress in medical marijuana legislation in New Jersey. The bill now goes to the entire Senate for a vote, possibly as early as January, 2009. The bill has yet to be voted on in the Assembly, but Governor Corzine has said that he would sign the bill when it gets to his desk. Thirteen states have laws that protect medical marijuana users and now New Jersey is poised to become the 14th state to protect patients who use marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation.For more info, contact Ken Wolski, RN, MPA, Executive Director, Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey, Inc., 844 Spruce St., Trenton, NJ 08648, or call 609.394.2137We spoke with Ken on Friday about this hearing and we’re excited at the result! We will follow the New Jersey bill in the next year and hope that the Garden State becomes at least the 14th state to legalize medical use of cannabis. With Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and even Idaho and Alabama considering medical marijuana in the next term, there may be a mad dash for that 14th spot!News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking Source: NORMLCopyright: 2008 NORMLContact: Contact Us - NORML Website: NJ Senate Committee passes medical marijuana bill