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Monday, May 13, 2013

NJ Weedman Working to Get Clarity on New Jersey's Weed Laws



Among the best known marijuana activists from New Jersey, Ed Forchion, aka: the NJ Weedman, has been wrapped up in legal battles nearly non-stop regarding cannabis. His use of Jury Nullification to hang Juries and exonerate him from what would have been ludicrous criminal sentences have resounded across the East Coast. Now, NJ Weedman is taking a step further in his home State of New Jersey.

Ed has recently filed a twelve page motion in the State of New Jersey allowing ANY persons who've been arrested on marijuana charges to JOIN him in fighting to change the laws in favor of an evolving view on marijuana use, (just fill out the highlighted parts and send it according to the instructions listed at the bottom of the PDF - remember not to send the instructions along with your motion of dismissal!). Since New Jersey currently has medicinal marijuana laws on the books, and because those said laws have been put into effect more recently than the criminal definitions and regulations concerning cannabis, Ed is encouraging people to question the New Jersey government on whether the newest laws can trump the old ones.

Forchion stated in an interview, “I’m tired of being a one-man gang, I’ve been arguing these arguments for years. I’m just putting it out there. I don’t care who does it, but let’s get it done.” His brief basically states that since former Governor Jon Corzine signed the New Jersey medicinal marijuana laws into effect, (January 18th, 2010) all marijuana arrests should become null and void.

While this may seem like a daunting hill to climb, the real question behind this must be addressed: which law supersedes when there are two laws in conflict within New Jersey? Medical laws allow patients to possess and use cannabis. Ed "NJ Weedman" Forchion has medical cards in several States that allow for medical marijuana, (not New Jersey, however). Whereas other States honor other State's medicinal cards as proof of need for this medicine, New Jersey's medical marijuana laws are very strict and to be frank, not well thought out.

Not only is New Jersey unwilling to accept medical marijuana ID cards from other States, other pot marks exist in the history of the legislation. For example, at one point it had been argued that New Jersey dispensaries must "limit" the percentage of THC in the medical marijuana that they distribute. As each strain has a variable THC content depending upon multiple factors, accomplishing this goal would be extremely time consuming and would induce TONS of wasted product that could be used as good medicine to those that need it.

Ed is through playing games in his home State when it comes to the best medicine that he has found for his rare bone tumor condition.

“They could have corrected this little problem, but they did nothing,” said Forchion. 

“The implementation of the medical marijuana act, in effect, made the criminal status null and void and canceled it out. You have a law saying something is blue and something is red, and they punish you for doing it red,” Ed stated in response to the contradictory nature of New Jersey statutes concerning marijuana.

Indeed, the marijuana legislation in New Jersey, just as across the country is all askew. While marijuana is legally medicine and allowed to be prescribed, it is still criminal to possess when found by Officers of the law. While we will live to see a day when over half of the States in the USA recognize medicinal marijuana and allow it, our Federal government refuses to adjust with the times. Even in lieu of Federal agencies, institutes and Centers stating repeatedly that cannabis has medicinal properties, the Department of Justice refuses to mandate that Congress reclassify cannabis under "the Controlled Substances Act", (currently putting marijuana in the same bracket as crack and heroin; as a Schedule I drug, marijuana is claimed to hold a "high risk of abuse" and "have no recognized medicinal value").

The FDA is still being petitioned by a number of cannabis-related science companies and even governmental agencies to recognize marijuana as a medicine. Ed Forchion's case of bone tumor treatment is proof in and of itself that cannabis works as medicine. There are countless stories like his, too. People are using cannabis oil to treat cancerous tumors and they are beating the illness, even in doctor diagnosed "hopeless cases". For more information, check out Rick Simpson's page on Phoenix Tears

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