Medicinal marijuana debate picks up; could NY and MA be next in line?

[bloomington-lib]

Source: WAMC

For years, the debate over the merits of marijuana use for medicinal purposes has made headlines, but action to legalize that use has moved at a relatively slow pace. WAMC's Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Greg Fry takes a look at how comments made this week could be a sign that more action is on the way...


On Tuesday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced that his state's medical marijuana program would move forward. The state's former Governor, Jon Corzine, signed a measure into law allowing for the purchase of marijuana for medical purposes. Christie says the program in that state will prevent the abuses that have taken place in states like California. The former U-S Attorney also said that he thought about whether he would've pursued legal action based on federal laws, and determined that he would not have.

There have been mixed signals on the federal level. The Drug Enforcement Administration recently said that marijuana has no acceptable medical use. Morgan Fox with the Washington DC based Marijuana Policy Project says interested states were moving forward with implementing programs up until the past month. Fox says it appears that the federal government was taken a hard-line stance against medicinal marijuana. However, he says federal policy has never indicated that prosecutions of those using or selling medicinal marijuana would take place, as long as state law was followed.

Fox says with all the problems on the table, prohibition of marijuana use starts to look a little bit ridiculous. He says as long as states go forward and regulate programs, and as long as there is a clear definition of what is and is not legal, then he believes a lot more states will join New Jersey.


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