In an effort to blog more frequently…..so, herein:  some prose, photos and info

The Hottest Day for Pot in NJ/PA 2009 (so far…)

8-14-09 Chris Goldstein

If you were out and about in the streets of Philadelphia on Monday August 10th the experience was akin to standing in a pot of boiling chicken soup. The humidity index made the actual temperature feel like one hundred and four sopping wet degrees. The Sun levitated menacingly in the sky for the long afternoon, radiating with nuclear force its emotionless heat upon our sea-level atmosphere.

On the hottest day of the year on Philly and South Jersey it was the perfect time to discuss the hottest topic around: Medical Marijuana. Some fellow advocates and I were educating away in Trenton and across the Delaware River.

Here’s me in my suit (long sleeves underneath…) standing in front of the Free Library Northeast Branch at Cottman & Bustleton.

 Notice the blazing sun reflected above my head

Pennsylvania has its first ever piece of medical cannabis legislation and New Jersey is working towards becoming the fourteenth state to authorize therapeutic marijuana in 2009. The Garden State bill is mature having been considered for 5 years, now it has reached a final legislative phase. In the Keystone State the concept is brand new and is being treated as a curiosity. Yet PA is facing imploding budgets and political deadlock…so everyone is certainly intrigued at some new forms of tax revenue. I have myself witnessed forceful opposition melt away in the eyes of PA state legislators, readily giving way to big green dollar signs in medical marijuana taxes.

Compared to some TV news sets I have been on, the heat on the Northeast Philly street was not too bad. Besides, I never break a sweat in my suit. Still, it was blessedly cool in the cool basement meeting room of the city library where a small group gathered to hear presentations about cannabis on behalf of PhillyNORML and Pennsylvanians for Medical Marijuana, PA4MMJ. The library itself was full of people coming into the air conditioned rooms to escape the sun and get DVDs, use computers or browse books.

The modern library is such an essential part of the city community, especially in difficult economic times.  Philly is struggling with budget problems and libraries are under fire, but everyday people face an even more serious money struggle than the cities where they live.  Not everyone can afford to go snag a $5 latte and browse the stacks of a bookstore to purchase a hardback or magazine. Without a credit card one can’t order something of interest on Amazon.com.  And in 2009 not everyone has a computer or can afford reliable internet service … yet.

Philosophically I find even the hint that the city that invented the Free Library system would abandon any facilities abhorrent. Ben Franklin will haunt the empty stacks himself. In my view Philly should not attempt to be anything less than the most advanced library system in the world! Realistically, the closure and limitations of hours at libraries means that people will be denied the ability to even read this blog. The deep well of humanitarian respect for learning contained in the free use of movies, music and literature, that every freethinking person truly deserves, is disappearing faster than the rainforests.

It is in this endangered environment of thought that grassroots organizations and clubs have found a haven to convene and share ideas.

Within this unique place of respect for information Derek Rosenzweig of PA4MMJ, Jahan Marcu a cannabinoid researcher and I spoke before a small group. We covered local medical marijuana effort in PA HB1393 then I spoke about the history of marijuana prohibition and finally we heard about some fascinating research about how isolated THC and CBD can actually kill gliomas or human brain cancer cells.

The local Channel 6 Action News team was there along with Rep. Mark B Cohen, the sponsor of PA’s current medical marijuana legislation. Cohen has been a champion of HB1393 and has shown himself quite educated on the politics and facts regarding medical marijuana.

Derek Rosenzweig, Representative Cohen in the a/c

Earlier in the day I was in Trenton meeting with policymakers, including the sponsor of New Jersey’s Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora. Here’s a our photo

Ken Wolski RN, Asssemblyman Gusciora, me 

His office is on State Street and I noticed that the old metal-framed windows of the historic office building were taped shut with electrical tape. This was an effort to assist the modern air conditioning as it strained against the sun streaming through the crystalline, antique glass. There was a poetic metaphor I allowed myself in a moment there for the NJ medical marijuana bill: The legislative process for the bill was like those rays of sun, loosing their heat but not their light as they landed in the office.

The public that communicates with the therapeutic cannabis advocates and frankly many of the advocates themselves are reticent to allow any restrictions into a medical cannabis program that are not in place in the other 13 states. But every state has a unique political personality and we must allow for that in whatever program can be passed in a workable condition here. The passage of the bill at all is paramount, as there are already so many among us who are looking for that sunshine in their lives and the legal protections to use a medicine that works.

Politics is not a fun profession or hobby. It is grueling work and many legislators are not necessarily folks I would hang out with in my spare time. Yet NJ Assemblyman Gusciora and PA Representative Cohen are men who have my respect and sincere admiration. Both are seasoned politicians, yet neither is a cynic. Each has their own style, but they share a progressive and pragmatic core as well as an intellectual zeal that make them a cut above your average state legislator. I find the same in the New Jersey Senate sponsor for the medical marijuana legislation, Senator Nicolas Scutari. He will be championing the more expansive version of the bill that he won approval for in February.

In many ways medical marijuana efforts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania are lucky to have these men putting forward the legal change to allow suffering citizens safe access. It is their experienced strategy and their personalities that are forwarding this legislation as much as the patients and advocates. Educated politicians on talk shows and in committee hearings are now soundly trouncing the baseless and fanatical opposition to medical marijuana. On the East Coast, medical cannabis is in very good company.

So we’re going to sweat it out here in the dog days of summer with the blue-dog democrats and red-state wishing republicans. We’ll be working even harder in the cool crisp air of the fall. Pennsylvania will hold the first public hearings on HB1393 in September or October and New Jersey will see an Assembly floor vote then back and forth concurrence votes with the Senate. When all of the wrangling of ideas is done and snow is in the air, there will be thousands of New Jersey residents who may have legal access to cannabis. They will not be going to jail.

The first patients and Alternative Treatment Centers will endure intense public and legal scrutiny. Even if a bill is passed, there is a tremendous amount of work to be done. Once a program is approved by the legislature, it still has to be implemented in the real world.

www.cmmnj.org

www.pa4mmj.org