Thousands more New Jersey patients could soon qualify for medical marijuana

Thousands more patients in New Jersey would be eligible to receive medical marijuana under a new bill that broadly defines qualifying conditions and vastly increases the number of dispensaries that can operate in the state.

Current law allows marijuana to be prescribed for a limited number of medical conditions such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis.

But legislation advanced Thursday by the Assembly health committee, a combination of A-3437 and A-3740, does away with that list and says marijuana can be prescribed for “any medical condition diagnosed by a physician,” including symptoms resulting from medical treatments.

“What we’re doing is lifting the restrictions and putting it in the patients’ and doctors’ hands,” said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, D-Mercer, one of the sponsors of the state’s original medical marijuana legislation.

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In addition to helping more patients get relief, supporters hope greater access will contribute to the fight against the state’s ongoing opioid epidemic.

“I believe it will save lives,” said Assemblyman Herb Conaway, D-Burlington, chair of the health committee and a practicing physician. “There’s at least empirical evidence in states that have increased access to marijuana… that opioid deaths come down. Now, we haven’t proven causation yet, but I think the correlation is compelling.”

The bill passed 6-2 with two abstentions and no Republican support.

The measure comes as Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy is calling for an expansion of the state’s medical marijuana program and legalization of the drug for recreational use. The $37.4 billion budget he proposed last week assumes $20 million in revenue from medical marijuana and another $60 million from taxing recreational marijuana sales.

Murphy has sided with advocates and patients who say the medical marijuana rules put in place under former Gov. Chris Christie are too restrictive, limiting the drug to just 15,000 patients and imposing a $200 registration fee on patients and caregivers.

Christie resisted the medical marijuana program, signed into law by his predecessor, and once called it a "front for legalization."

Recommendations from a review of the program that Murphy ordered earlier this year are due in the coming days, and lawmakers said they expect the bill they approved Thursday to be amended several times.

But in its current form, the measure would allow 12 marijuana cultivating and processing centers and 40 dispensaries to operate in New Jersey, Conaway said. That’s up from the current six “alternative treatment centers” that have licenses to perform those functions, only five of which are operational.

The bill would also:

Remove the requirement that physicians enroll in a state registry before prescribing medical marijuana;

that physicians enroll in a state registry before prescribing medical marijuana; Allow any patient , not just minors, to buy edible forms of marijuana;

, not just minors, to buy edible forms of marijuana; Eliminate the $200 registration fee for patients and caregivers; and

for patients and caregivers; and Double the monthly limit on how much marijuana a patient can receive from two to four ounces.

Ken Wolski, executive director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey and a registered nurse, estimated Thursday that the number of medical marijuana patients could increase tenfold, to 150,000, within a year of the bill becoming law.

Most of that increase, he said, would likely come from people with chronic pain, which is not listed as a qualifying condition under current rules.

He and another member of the coalition, Peter Rosenfeld, urged lawmakers to expand the number of cultivators in the state even further and allow some home cultivation to help meet demand and push down the price of the drug.

“Don’t look for that anytime soon,” Conaway said of a provision allowing home cultivation.

On the other side of the debate, Assemblyman Brian Rumpf, R-Ocean, said the bill goes too far to expand access.

“My difficulty with the bill is it removes, basically, all safeguards by setting forth that any doctor may prescribe for any reason,” he said. “I truly believe that we need to be much more cautious when we’re dealing with the health and welfare of the people of the state.”

An expansion of the state’s medical marijuana program has a clearer path to passage than legalization of marijuana for recreational use, which is opposed by the Legislative Black Caucus and other key groups.

Email: pugliese@northjersey.com