TRENTON — A state Senate panel today cleared a bill that would eliminate bureaucratic barriers families say have blocked minors from participating in New Jersey's medical marijuana program.

The bill is in response to the plight of 2-year-old Vivian Wilson, who has been diagnosed with a rare and potentially deadly form of epilepsy known as Dravet syndrome. The Health Department issued her a medical marijuana membership card in February, but then required her parents to seek the written approval of a psychiatrist and a pediatrician in addition to her neurologist that recommended the toddler to the program.

Registered adult patients need only one physician to recommend them before they may purchase marijuana from one of the state’s approved dispensaries.

Sponsored by committee Chairman Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), the bill also would allow the centers to sell marijuana infused edible products, which is now against program rules.

The bill (S2842) also eliminates the Health Department’s requirement that a dispensary shall grow only three strains of marijuana.

All the changes are needed for children like Vivian to participate in the state’s six-month-old medical marijuana program, her father, Brian Wilson, of Scotch Plains, told the Senate Judiciary Committee. A small group of children in Colorado and California with Dravet syndrome are consuming capsules or food mixed with a strain of marijuana that is successfully reducing seizures and allowing them to cut back on medications.

"My 2-year-old old daughter is not going to smoke marijuana," Wilson said. The only edible product health department rules permit centers to sell are lozenges, "which are not available anywhere, and she would choke on one." Vivian’s doctor has placed her on a low-carbohydrate, high fat diet, so if the lozenges are made with sugar that may do more harm than good, he said.

Wilson said he and his wife, Meghan, have considered moving to Colorado, but that would guarantee they could never visit New Jersey or risk violating drug trafficking laws if they brought Vivian’s medicinal marijuana with them.

Jennie Stormes of Hope Township said her 14-year-old son, Jackson, suffers from the same illness as Vivian and is registered with the state, but has been blocked by the same barriers. But unlike the Wilsons, Stormes said she has first-hand proof marijuana will help her son. He lives part-time with his father in California, where he is also a registered patient. The "amazing" benefits include fewer and shorter seizures, a longer attention span and improved speech, she said.

Her son has tried dozens of medications and undergone brain surgery, Stormes said. "How many times does he have to fail?" she said, weeping.

But representatives from the Medical Society of New Jersey and the American Academy of Pediatrics urged the committee to delay the vote and come up with a better option.

Fran Gallagher, executive director of American Academy of Pediatrics-New Jersey chapter, said medical marijuana is "more potent" than pot "obtained through other channels."

"Pediatric patients must be more highly scrutinized than adults," Gallagher said.

The committee approved the bill by an 8-3 vote. Sen. Christopher "Kip" Bateman (R-Somerset), was the only Republican to support the bill, noting, "it’s going to be done in conjunction and parents and doctors."

Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen) voted no, saying it was "very dangerous for a legislative body, no matter how clever we think we are, to involve ourselves in medical treatment."

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