TRENTON — Moved by the plight of a toddler with a seizure disorder, two Union County lawmakers announced today they have drafted legislation that would revise the state's medical marijuana law to make it easier for children who qualify for the program to benefit.

State Assemblywoman Linda Stender and state Sen. Nicholas Scutari, both Democrats from Union County, said they planned to introduce the bill next week in response to the situation involving Vivian Wilson, 2, of Scotch Plains, who the state Health Department approved for the medical marijuana program.

Vivian has Dravet syndrome, a rare and severe form of epilepsy that conventional medicine cannot control. But before her parents, Meghan and Brian Wilson, may buy marijuana for her, state law says they need the approval of a psychiatrist, a pediatrician, and the doctor treating the child's illness if the pediatrician is not in charge.

The difficulty in finding a psychiatrist is one of several barriers preventing their daughter's access to the program, The Star-Ledger reported on Sunday.

One doctor, Anthony Anzalone of Rutherford, said state Health Department officials recently asked him to stop enrolling children until enough willing physicians were participating.

The bill would require pediatric patients to have to obtain only the treating physician's approval — the same requirement as for adult patients. Doctors must document in the pediatric patient's file that they have provided "an explanation of the potential risks and benefits of of the medical use of marijuana," according to the bill.

The legislation would also allow medical marijuana dispensaries to sell a variety of edible products. Aside from the smokable form of the plant, state law permits the sale of topical lotions and restricts edible product sales to lozenges.

In Vivian's case, her parents said, the strain of marijuana that has helped children with Dravet syndrome in Colorado and California is provided in capsule form, or reduced to a tincture that can be added to food.

Stender said she received a moving letter from the girl's mother explaining how her daughter's illness dominates every aspect of the family's life and is delaying her development.

"My grandchildren are this age," Stender said. "The fact that a 2 year old would be seizing 15 times a day — you want to do whatever you can to help. She's unable to access what could be potentially life changing for her."

Scutari, the original Senate sponsor of the medical marijuana law, said he did not know whether the Christie administration would support the bill because of the stigma that surrounds marijuana, "Yet kids are being prescribed oxycontin, that leads to addiction problems," he added.

"Hopefully we can apply a little bit more pressure on the administration," said Scutari, who has criticized Gov. Christie Christie in the past for his slow and reluctant implementation of the law. Only one dispensary is open, Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair, which has served about 125 patients since its December opening.

The Wilsons thanked the two lawmakers and others who are trying "to make the New Jersey medical marijuana program more patient friendly. "

"We find it admirable that they put the lives and welfare of patients ahead of politics and propaganda, and we look forward to more improvements in the near future," an email from the couple said.

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Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak declined to comment.

When the governor was asked earlier this week for his reaction to the Wilsons' situation, he said he was "very concerned, if we go down this slope of allowing minors to use this, where it ends. So I'll have the health commissioner look at it, report back to me, but I don't want to mislead people either, I'm not inclined to allow them to have it."

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