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The exterior of Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair, the first and only medical marijuana alternative treatment center to open in New Jersey.

(Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger)

MOUNT HOLLY — A state appellate judge raised sharp questions Wednesday while hearing allegations that the Christie administration has been sabotaging New Jersey's medical-marijuana program with delays and missed reports.

Superior Court Judge Marie Lihotz, presiding over a three-judge panel in Mount Holly, said the lawsuit presented "an interesting, novel issue," but rejected an allegation that state officials were dragging their feet intentionally as "innuendo" and said the court may not be able to consider those claims.

In the lawsuit, the attorneys for patient Richard Caporusso and physician Jeffrey Pollack are seeking wider and speedier access to medical marijuana, which the state Legislature approved in 2010 under Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie took office shortly after the law was signed, and since then, only one dispensary has opened, in Montclair. Overwhelmed by a crush of demand, the dispensary owners decided in March that they will only serve North Jersey residents.

"Who is being harmed by all this are the thousands of patients in the state of New Jersey," said Anne Davis, an attorney for Caporusso and Pollack. "This gives (terminal patients) quality of life."

She and Bill Buckman, another attorney, asked the court to rule on several arguments Wednesday.

The five members in the state Department of Health’s review board for medical-marijuana dispensaries should agree to take questions in a deposition on the reasons for the delay, they urged.

And the state health department should expedite the process of approving or denying applications, saying one applicant in Secaucus has been under consideration for more than two years even though authorities have said members on its board of directors are under investigation for fraud.

Lihotz told lawyers she "could understand" their request seeking to compel the state to produce the yearly reports, which under law would allow patients to petition the state Department of Health to add more qualifying illnesses that can be treated with marijuana.

Deputy Attorney General Michael Kennedy said the court could only order state agencies to change their plans when they are found to be "arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable," and argued that health officials were instead only being thorough.

"What we’ve heard today," he said, "is a list of things that appellants aren’t happy with. ... Anything but ‘arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable.’"

Kennedy added that "the (health) department does report to the Legislature through the annual budget process" and "updates on the program have been given there."

Lawmakers since 2010 have passed two concurring resolutions saying the program as implemented defied their intentions.

The Christie administration last week signaled stronger support for the medical marijuana program when the state’s Economic Development Authority approved approved a $357,000 loan to a medicinal marijuana dispensary in Egg Harbor Township that is scheduled to open in mid-October. There are about 1,233 registered patients in New Jersey, according to the state Health Department.

Lihotz on Wednesday noted that challenges to state agencies including the Department of Health usually are heard first by an administrative law judge inside the executive branch, not an appellate court.

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