2/23/09
The New Jersey State Senate has passed SB119 The Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act in a 22-16 vote.
There was passionate floor debate on the subject, "Can there be a greater calling for us than to actually ease people's suffering?" That was from Republican Seantor Bill Baroni.
The bill now moves to a State Assembly Health Committe then on to the two houses of the Assembly.
New Jersey residents are strongly encouraged to contact and thank the Senators who supported the bill. Residents can also contact their Assembly-person to support A804 as it moves through the legisaltive process.
More information at www.cmmnj.org
UPDATED- 3/1/09
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Madam Potts
Dan Shapiro
Lairderg
Bill Beck
Hadrian
Beth Mann
Salon.com
Comments
So, where does this now stand with respect to the legislative process described at the site below? Does anyone have detailed information regarding the process, remaining steps and or timeline?
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislativepub/legprocess.asp
The Senate passed SB119, which resided in thier subcommittee for 3 years. There is an Assembly companion bill, A804, which is identitical to what passed the Senate, save for thier own committee ammendments.
So now A804 will be re-heard bu the Assembly subcommittee, and if it passes there it goes to the full Assembly for the vote.
Becuase both the Assembly and Senate bills have already been heard bu or resided in committee it is a good thing for a faster process for this legislation.
But the fight is far from over....
Should this pass the Assembly the rules must then be promulgated....which, in New Mexico, was done through a series of public hearings and meetings of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The rules process could follow a similar track in NJ.
But again, the next big step is the NJ Assembly, wher ethere is a lot of support for this...
Marijuana was criminalized not because it's dangerous, but because Big Oil (synthetic fabris such as nylon are produced from petroleum) and the cotton industry did not want to compete with hemp fabric and rope which are far, far sturdier and longer lasting than synthetic and cotton fabric and rope. Thus, in yet another tribute to the power of Big Oil, the Hemp Laws of the 1920s and a propaganda campaign, including the ridiculous movie, "Reefer Madness", attempted to convince the public of marijuana's "dangers". Even today, there are PSAs depicting young women whose nude, etc. photos are supposedly on the internet, claiming "if only I hadn't smoked pot!", and blaming pot for their indiscretions. Such indiscretions occur with the use of alcohol, not marijuana!!! Such lies and propaganda!!!
Of course, one of the main reasons marijuana is being decriminalized is the cost of prosecuting users, especially the cost of prosecuting those with small amounts for personal use only. States and municipalities and their courts can no longer afford to prosecute cases that cost more to go to court than is recovered in fines, etc. Putting pot dealers in prison, etc. is another absurd expense, and many states are now releasing said prisoners to save money.
Yet another reason is Big Tobacco's interest in marketing marijuana as tobacco use declines, and if Republicans are involved in promoting decriminalization of pot, then I could almost guarantee Big Tobacco is behind this! One of Big Tobacco's ongoing problems has always been that their customers die, unlike with marijuana.
Another hypocritical absurdity in all this are "drug tests". Although many Americans accept without question that in our "great, free" nation, our body fluids can be tested, drug tests are an assault on freedom! To me as an American citizen, such an assault is insulting, degrading, and certainly not what should happen in a "free" nation!!!! How any American can accept such testing, especially since 65% of the population is on at least one pharmaceutical, is screaming, blatant hypcocrisy!!
Pharmaceutical use was implicated in the "going postal" incidents in recent years entailing a disgruntled postal worker opening fire on fellow employees, but once again, the power of Big Pharma is such that anti-depressant use by the shooters was kept out of the media. Many who take anti-depressants report overhwhelming urges to do violence or hurt others, such as suddenly wanting to run over the jogger on the side of the road, etc. Murders have been directly linked to anit-depressant use, yet once again, the public is largely unaware as such "news" is kept from them by big Pharma. But marijuana is a big danger?!! Once again, as some of my earlier posts stated, Americans are a very, very controlled population and don't even know it!!
Although ridiculing New Jersey is a common pastime in this country, please note that during this horrible winter, did you hear the mention of New Jersey even once as the target of awful weather? That's right..... you didn't! We in NJ miss the really bad stuff almost every time! One of the many reasons to love NJ!!
Those who ridicule New Jersey don't know New Jersey. The historic sites, the differences in geography from salt marshes to Pine Barrens and cedar lakes, the mountains in north Jersey, etc.,
and of course, the Jersey shore!!
Aaaahhh! The Jersey shore!!! I cannot imagine my children or myself living away from the oceanever again! I lived in landlocked Illinois, Colorado, and Tennesse during my early years, but there's nothing like the shore, no matter the time of year, the weather or anything else.....the shore is beautiful, constantly changing, always wonderful, and my children, who grew up in NJ are devoted to the shore and I think, always will be!!
Hurrah for New Jersey!