About a month ago, Ann Kiernan, a New Jersey attorney who practices preventive law for employers, blogged about one of Jon Corzine’s last acts as Governor of New Jersey: signing a bill permitting physicians to prescribe marijuana to patients who suffer from such illnesses as cancer, AIDS, and Lou Gehrig’s Disease. In Ann’s article, she raised important questions about medical marijuana use in the workplace and how this bill will affect employers.
The bill, known as the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, will take effect in July 2010. New Jersey will become the 14th state to legalize marijuana. This bill is a victory for many interest groups in New Jersey: those who believe that the criminal justice system needs to be reformed; those who believe that marijuana should be decriminalized; and those who believe that marijuana has beneficial health effects for patients with terminal illnesses. For more information about the benefits of marijuana and why marijuana should be legalized, the Marijuana Policy Project and Americans for Safe Access websites contain a wealth of information.
It is apparently well documented that the medical use of marijuana has beneficial health effects for those who suffer from serious and terminal illnesses. To that end, the stated purpose of New Jersey’s Medical Marijuana Act is to
protect from arrest, prosecution, property forfeiture, and criminal and other penalties, those patients who use marijuana to alleviate suffering from debilitating medical conditions, as well as their physicians, primary caregivers, and those who are authorized to produce marijuana for medical purposes.
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