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Could a town in Cape May County become a site for a farm growing medical marijuana and/or a distribution center dispensing the herb by prescription?

Dr. Richard Perniciaro of Atlantic Cape Community College told the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 19 that medical marijuana could become a cash crop in Cape May County, a way to bolster the year-round economy that is mostly dependent upon tourism.

Gov. Chris Christie signed a medical marijuana law two years ago. The state Department of Health and Senior Services is licensing six non-profit organizations as Alternative Treatment Centers (ATCs) but none of them have opened for business. The ATC’s would be the only locations in the state permitted to grow, process and distribute marijuana.

Two centers would be located in the northern part of the state, two in the central portion and two in the southern region.
Ken Wolski, chief operating officer of Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey, told the Herald, the six licensees were seeking locations with a minimum of success.

Upper Freehold Township Committee unanimously passed an ordinance preventing zoning board approval of any applications that break a federal law. While medical marijuana is legal in New Jersey, it is illegal from a federal standpoint. Breakwater Alternative Treatment Center was seeking a location in the township.
The public showed concerned about security around an ATC, in particular because Upper Freehold does not have its own police department and is dependent on State Police.

The zoning board in Maple Shade rejected an ATC application. Wolski said one ATC is preparing to open in Upper Montclair.
Christie said he would not intervene if a town would not allow an ATC.

Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon plans to introduce a bill using the Right to Farm Act that would protect medical marijuana farmers from overly restrictive municipal regulations.

In July 2011, Christie instructed the Department of Health and Senior Services to move forward expeditiously with the program expecting medical marijuana would be available by the end of 2011.

“The (state) Department of Health opposed a two-month vetting process on every officer and employee of these Alternative Treatment Centers, so they all have to fill out these 70-something page applications before the Department of Health will issue the final permit to get up and running,” said Wolski.

There have been a long series of delays and procedural roadblocks from the Department of Health ad Senior Services, he said.
On its website the department states it, “is committed to the effective implementation of the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act to make medicinal marijuana available as soon as possible, while ensuring the integrity of the program.”

“It’s our expectation that there will be Alternative Treatment Centers functioning, maybe, in four to six months here in New Jersey,” Wolski said. “Certainly, there could be one down in Cape May (County), certainly they could be using the farmland down there if the residents of the local communities or nearby are agreeable to that.”

Breakwater Alternative Treatment Center submitted plans to Upper Freehold Township showing they would grow marijuana in a greenhouse located on preserved farmland.

“You’re really looking at secured greenhouses,” said Wolski.

He said the greenhouses could be “discreet, low-key and fit into the community in a seamless way.” Breakwater ATC indicated they would build a berm around their greenhouses on which they would plant trees.

“So, basically, someone driving by would not know it was there and then they would have the internal security in the greenhouse,” said Wolski.

The ATCs will grow and process their own marijuana but not necessarily at the same location, he said. A separate production facility for the marijuana could be maintained, apart from the distribution center, said Wolski.
The state permits medical marijuana to be grown on preserved farmland but its distribution center must be located elsewhere.

Some entrepreneurs in Camden have buildings they believe would be ideal for locating an ATC and are approaching the local zoning board for a variance for a marijuana production and distribution center, said Wolski. A zoning board hearing takes place Feb. 6. They are seeking approval before they approach an ATC, he said.

“You could theoretically do the same thing in Cape May County,” said Wolski. “You could have a farmer who has farmland, who wants to use it, and have the Alternative Treatment Center put up a greenhouse on his farmland and he could go to the local community and get the approvals there.”

He said that would make it much easier for the ATC with a pre-approval. As an example, the pot could be grown in Cape May County and the distribution center could be located in another town such Atlantic City or Millville.

The medical marijuana law requires any patient with a qualifying condition to register with the Department of Health and Senior Services. Before that happens, a patient must specific which ATC they intend to use.

“There are no Alternative Treatment Centers up so no patients can register, there’s not a single patient registered in New Jersey yet,” said Wolski.

Who would be eligible to receive a prescription for medical marijuana? The state law is very restrictive. In the original enabling bill, chronic pain for any reason was included but in the final version of bill, it stipulates chronic pain only associated with cancer or AIDS.

“That automatically disqualified tens of thousands of people,” he said. “One of the three people in New Jersey suffer from chronic pain at one time in their lives.”

Any physician who wants to take part in the program must register with the Department of Health and Senior Services and they have “to jump through certain hoops,” said Wolski, which has “discouraged all but 1 percent of licensed doctors in the state from participating in the program.”
“They wanted a restrictive law here in New Jersey, well they got the most restrictive law, it’s so restrictive nobody’s getting any marijuana therapy and when people do start getting it, it’s going to be very few people,” he said.

Any patient with a diagnosis of less than a year to live would qualify for marijuana therapy, which would include thousands of hospice patients. Covered conditions include glaucoma, seizures, intractable muscle spasticity, cancer, Crohn’s disease and AIDS.

Wolski, who has been a nurse for 35 years, said he has seen countless patients benefit from marijuana therapy “when no other pharmaceutical drug in the world was helping them.” He said he knew a seizure patient who endured five brain surgeries and a dozen, different anti-convulsive medications and noting worked until he started using marijuana.

John Ray Wilson, a multiple sclerosis patient, is facing five years in prison for growing 17 marijuana plants in his home. A Superior Court judge would not let the jury hear testimony that Wilson had multiple sclerosis, his only defense for his actions.

Wolski said Delaware is beginning a medical marijuana program, New York and Pennsylvania have had bills introduced in their legislatures. Medical marijuana is allowed in Washington, D.C., Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine.

New Jersey’s medical marijuana law would allow patients to obtain two ounces per month. If rolled into marijuana cigarettes, the two ounces would provide two to four “joints” per day, said Wolski. He said that may not be enough for those who suffer from chronic pain 24 hours per day or glaucoma patients.

A pending bill in the state Legislature that would decriminalize marijuana has 20 co-sponsors in the assembly. New Jersey’s original medical marijuana bill allowed for home cultivation allowing patients or a caregiver to grow up to six plants. That was not part of the final law.

In 2009, the state senate approved a bill that would have made Alternative Treatment Centers “collective gardens” where a patient would register and the center would grow the plants for that person who reimburses the ATC for the cost of growing the marijuana. That was not included in the final law.

A Rutgers-Eagleton poll taken last month showed 86 percent of voters surveyed approved of medical marijuana by prescription.
Wolski said there has been an effort since 1970 to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug on the federal level, which states it has not accepted medical use and is unsafe for use even under medical supervision.

He said marijuana has accepted medical use in 16 states and scores of health care organizations and the American College of Physicians support it and recognize its therapeutic potential. The governors of Rhode Island, the State of Washington, Vermont and Colorado have petitioned the federal government to change marijuana from a Schedule One drug to a more appropriate schedule.

“We would definitely urge Gov. Christie to sign on to this effort…” said Wolski.

Department of Health and Senior Services Commissioner Mary E. O’Dowd sent an editorial to weekly newspapers around the state on Jan. 25. In it, she stated “The department will publish on its website — in mid-March — the names of more than 100 physicians who have registered to participate in the program. This will help attending physicians and their patients find doctors who will help them secure access to medicinal marijuana.”

“Government must address questions about the relationship to federal law, security, finances, regulatory compliance and law enforcement, including a surveillance system for cultivation sites and dispensaries, plus fingerprint checks of every owner, officer, director and employee. Law enforcement has to be trained to differentiate between a department-issued identification card and a forgery. Secure computer software systems must be in place. The ATCs and the state must be able to provide testing similar to other controls over plants or consumer products,” said O’Dowd.

O’Dowd notes “secure systems are needed to grow, package, test, inspect, transport, dispense and dispose of a substance, which we must always bear in mind is considered a Schedule 1 drug under federal law.”

In 111 pages of state regulations, it notes, “all cultivation of marijuana shall take place in an enclosed, locked facility. Access to the enclosed, locked facility is limited to a cardholder who is a principal officer, director, board member or employee of an ATC when acting in his or her official capacity.”

Donna Leusner, a spokesperson for the state Board of Health, said of the six potential ATCs, Greenleaf Compassion Center is the furthest along in the permitting process for a location in North Jersey. None of the six non-profit groups have received permits, she said.

Leusner said there was a myriad of complex questions to be answered. Patients need to have an ongoing relationship with a physician, she said, which prevents doctors from locating next door to an ATC as they have in California.
She said Cape May County could be a location for an ATC.