I am a medical cannabis supporter and I am YOUR constituent. I have extreme concern that needs your immediate attention.
Many New Jersey medical cannabis patients are already chronically unable to afford an uninterrupted supply of their recommended amount of cannabis from an "essential" dispensary. That is primarily due to medical marijuana having a “cash only” payment policy for overly-priced medicine that insurance doesn’t cover.
New Jersey Alternative Treatment Centers (ATCs) had run low and limited purchase amounts of favored, effective strains before, but this has been exacerbated by COVID-19. Normally crowded dispensaries are facing overcrowded conditions, making social distancing especially hard on the many patients with limited mobility. There have been patients turned away after waiting all day and some ATCs have limited hours now or have closed indefinitely.
The only current legal method of obtaining medical cannabis is through pick-up by patient or registered caregiver, which increases the chances of patients getting exposed to the virus. Home delivery provisions that passed under “Jake’s Law” almost nine months ago are still not available to patients and many patients will be running out of medicine due to this crisis and additional conditions that will continue to emerge.
Although the Department of Health are doing what they can to improve the situation, with the uncertainty of what may come and a financial crisis on top of an already cost prohibitive situation, it will not be enough.
Patients are losing their jobs and financial concerns will make patients increasingly vulnerable to medical relapse due to insufficient medication.
Currently, we are considering letting doctors and nurses graduate early to be on the front lines. We are making temporary hospitals out of whatever we can, wherever we can, and however we can. We are considering commandeering private business to get jobs done.
Unfortunately, the current state and national “all hands on deck” mentality seems to leave medical cannabis patients out of the current push for “out of the box” solutions. Medical cannabis patients have been saying that they feel as if they have been treated as second class patients by many legislators in NJ for a long time. The truth will finally be visible through legislators’ responses to this plea. New Jersey owes it to its medical cannabis patients to seriously consider ways to allow them to start growing their own essential medicine in the Garden State.
The legislature should immediately amend the Compassionate Use Act (CUMCA) to allow medical cannabis patients to possess and grow up to six cannabis plants, just as the New Jersey Senate voted they should be allowed to do in the Compassionate Use bill, on Feb.23, 2009 by a vote of 22-16.
The Attorney General should enact a moratorium on arrests of patients growing their own essential medicine and the legislature should at least decriminalize it in emergency legislation scheduled.
This is essential access.
Patients can get clones, plants or seeds from ATCs and they are already registered with the department for verification.
What perceived adverse effects that some legislators say "might" happen, could possibly be worse than what IS about to happen to some patients if we don't do this?
That is not a rhetorical question. It is the one question I am asking you to directly answer in your response to me along with anything else you care to say on the matter. It is the crux of this letter. Time will provide the answer for all to see one way or the other and unfortunately for patients it won’t be a long time.
This email and your reply, or lack thereof, will be posted on [letpatientsgrownj.com](https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fletpatientsgrownj.com%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR3kMP3iXt_6YC0e4bTq3VEmnYig-D3SFEF2NB4eeKTI8QjaYTK2Xy_BKo8&h=AT2BeWDkVM6VcinnDJLOy4jcV09KD9dTovhAHEUeYdtexw7zQgJcebkzM9V-CFYyHpokMYK0ZQICM5mcYYXQQs_vPXUihbYtfL7Ax27-MzKIxcahhFRDcnLFVqyym9IxwL7n5gWBVNj0ylqJWvVSHWp-XoSJ), as all other legislators’ responses to their constituent/patients will be. How you handle this request will be accessible for anybody who might want to know, which is the purpose of the website.
Please give me your immediate thoughts on this as you begin an actual “risk/benefit” analysis. I don’t need to tell you how important it is to sick and dying patients for you to stay ahead curve on this.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey T King
Senator Gopal staff response
From: "Schliep, Charlie" <CSchliep@njleg.org> To: "derekjeter99@yahoo.com" <derekjeter99@yahoo.com> Sent: Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 11:07 AM Subject: Re: Compassion and safety for patients
Mr. King, Thank you for contacting our office regarding the access to medical cannabis during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As our office works to aid those who have been negatively affected by the ongoing health crisis, we value your questions and feedback. The State of New Jersey is working to assist our population that relies on medical cannabis and its availability. I forwarded your questions to the Legislators, and will keep you updated if there is any new information to share. As we work to aid those who are being affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, we will keep your feedback and concerns in mind as we move forward. I urge you to keep up to date on the Department of Health and its guidelines throughout this emergency. Please feel free to reach out to our office in case you have any questions, comments, or information. Best Regards, Charlie Schliep Legislative Aide District 11
Assembly staff response:
Mr. King, Thank you for contacting our office regarding the access to medical cannabis during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As our office is working to aid those who have been negatively affected by the ongoing health crisis, we value your questions and feedback. The State of New Jersey is working to assist our population that relies on medical cannabis and its availability. I forwarded your questions to Assemblyman Houghtaling and Assemblywoman Downey and will keep you updated if there is any new information to share. As we work to aid those who are being affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, we will keep your feedback and concerns in mind as we move forward. I urge you to keep up to date on the Department of Health and its guidelines throughout this emergency. Please feel free to reach out to our office in case you have any questions, comments, or information. Sincerely, Kathyrn Balitsos
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Hey Jeff - I am all in favor. Are you suggestion legislation or just urging the Governor to do an exec order? If you want to send me some bullet points that would be great.
Vin ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: JT King <derekjeter99@yahoo.com> Date: Sat, Apr 4, 2020 at 1:50 PM Subject: Medical cannabis availability & home growing To: Eric & Joann <contact@ericandjoann.com> Salutation, I appreciate your prompt acknowledgement of receiving my email. I know that legislators are busier than ever and have families they worry about themselves. I urge you to allow me to help you expedite the process of giving due diligence to an initial risk/benefit analysis of the need for patient home cultivation of cannabis in New Jersey. As always, legislative decisions are only as good as the information used in making those decisions. I can help your staff acquire pertinent information by summing up bullet joints and referencing the source of my information. I hope you will ask for the same verification of the source (resource) of information used in statements made by any of your colleagues and other interested parties concerning patient home cultivation, both pro and con. I will begin to succinctly sum up information you will need for even a cursory analysis and pass it on to you without need of a reply. However, I of course welcome any questions or comments you might have while initiating your own risk/benefit analysis. To that point I call your attention to the crux of my initial email, and the question that I look forward to being addressed by Assembly Members Houghtaling and Downey in their replies. As originally queried, “What perceived adverse effects that some legislators say “might” happen could possibly be worse than what IS about to happen to some patients if we don’t do this? This is not a rhetorical question. It is the one question I am asking you to directly answer in your response to me along with anything else you care to say on the matter. It is the crux of this letter.” I realize that it is hard for non-patients to grasp the realities of NJ registered cannabis patients’ inability to access their medicine without going broke doing it. I think we all have recently learned the importance of staying ahead of the curve of ever-increasing health concerns. We need to start now in order to save cannabis patient lives later. That is not hyperbole. Patients worry that the Corona Virus will be cyclical, not a one-time event. Growing medicine will take at least a half year after getting the go ahead. Patients need consideration sooner rather than later, as best as you can do that for them. Thank you. Stay well. At this point, that is the first thing that patients need our legislators to do. After all, in the end it will be up to the NJ legislature to save cannabis patient lives and protect what little money they have." Sincerely, Jeffrey T King -- Antoinette 'Toni' Gingerellitmgingerelli@gmail.com