Medical Marijuana Clears Senate in N.J.

Medical use of marijuana could soon be legal in New Jersey after the state Senate voted to allow residents to use the drug to treat a variety of illnesses, the Gloucester County Times reported Feb. 24.

The Senate voted 22-16 in favor of a measure sponsored by Sen. Nicholas Scutari, who said that medical-marijuana users “are not criminals, and it does not behoove us as a society to treat them as such.”

If approved by the legislature, the measure would allow residents who obtain a doctor’s permission to use marijuana for medical reasons and possess up to six marijuana plants and one ounce of usable marijuana. The state would issue ID cards to medical users.

Opponents said that the bill language was so loose that almost any medical condition would qualify for medical use of marijuana, and that the FDA should approve the drug before the state allows its use as medicine.

The measure goes next to the state Assembly for consideration; New Jersey Gov. John Corzine has already said he would sign the bill. If he does, New Jersey would become the 14th state to allow legal use of medical marijuana.