New Jersey will forge ahead with its stalled medical marijuana program, Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday, adding that he believed the people involved will not face federal prosecution.

The marijuana law, enacted in January 2010, called for the program to begin operation six months later. Instead, the soonest patients will receive state-sanctioned cannabis is late this year, almost two years after the program became law.

Mr. Christie, a Republican, opposed the bill that former Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat, signed on his last day in office. As governor, Mr. Christie postponed putting the program into effect, imposed restrictions on the program and delayed it over concerns about what the federal government would do.

“When others said that it was because we didn’t want to implement the program, it just was never true,” he said at a news conference in Trenton.