DrugSense

The Times, 25 Mar 2013 – Not only should medical marijuana be made available to patients in need, but adult recreational use should be regulated. Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth-oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers don’t ID for age, but they do recruit minors immune to adult sentences. So much for protecting the children. Throwing more money at the problem is no solution. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn’t fight crime, it fuels crime.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, 22 Mar 2013 – TRENTON – Three years after New Jersey passed a law allowing patients with serious ailments to use medical marijuana, debate has erupted over whether the program is languishing. On Thursday, hours after the Coalition for Medical Marijuana of NJ held a panel discussion in the Statehouse annex to criticize the state’s handling of the program, the Department of Health issued unexpected news.

The Trentonian, 15 Mar 2013 – So former Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo is headed to jail for three years, and we can argue back and forth as to whether the punishment fits the crime. But I’ll tell where the punishment doesn’t fit the crime: Just about everywhere else in our criminal justice system.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, 13 Mar 2013 – A Nine-Month Sentence Was Handed Down to the NJ Weedman. The man who calls himself NJ Weedman was sentenced Tuesday to a harsher term for violating probation than he had received for possessing a pound of marijuana.

DrugSense

DrugSense

The Record, 04 Feb 2013 – Patients registered in New Jersey’s medical marijuana program are waiting weeks – even months – for appointments to obtain the drug from the only dispensary in the state. The waits are not likely to end soon. The number of patients continues to grow – 645 people are registered, more than twice the amount the dispensary in Montclair anticipated in its first year. Meanwhile, other dispensaries aren’t expected to open for months as they go through a rigorous process to meet state regulations for medical marijuana centers.

DrugSense

The Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 Jan 2013 – A Superior Court judge in Burlington County sentenced the man known as NJ Weedman to two years of probation and more than $3,400 in fines and fees Wednesday for possessing a pound of pot in his car nearly three years ago. Marijuana activist Ed Forchion had used the inconsistency of criminal and medical-marijuana drug laws to win acquittal on the more serious charge of drug distribution when he was tried in October.