Community Corner
To the Editor: No Reliable Access to Medical Marijuana for NJ Patients
A reader from Little Silver, NJ says the compassion is missing from New Jersey's compassionate care medical marijuana program.
With 1,400 patients signed up to the medical cannabis program in New Jersey since August of 2012, many have yet to see access.
Greenleaf Compassion Center, which was open briefly and closed this summer, served only 140 patients the entire year.
With one of the program qualifications being less than six months to live, there undoubtedly have been those unfortunate enough to have died without ever seeing access to their medicine.
Those who are lucky enough to have access have to pay hefty prices, such $400 an ounce with a 7% sales tax, when no medicine in New Jersey is supposed to be taxed.
The quality of the medicine is also known to be subpar, which drives patients back to the black market. Due to the nature of the law, there is no immunity to arrest for possession unless the cannabis is in its original packaging, thus the patient is at risk if using alternative sources.
Should New Jersey have a medical program where patients rather risk arrest by using the black market or fix the program so patients get the medicine they deserve and need?
Dae Alize
Little Silver, NJ
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