Ed Forchion would have loved today's news that New Jersey will consider becoming the 12th state to legalize marijuana as "compassionate" prescription medicine for some patients.

The longtime pot-legalization advocate, former gubernatorial candidate and resident pain in politicians' and policemen's patoots once legally tried to change his name to NJweedman.com.

Forchion was arrested for lighting up joints in protest at the statehouse in Trenton and near the Liberty Bell in Philly. He received 9,075 votes in last year's gubernatorial primary, putting him in fifth place out of 11 Democratic candidates.

I'm sure Forchion would have probably felt vindicated if he had not moved from Brownsville to Los Angeles, Calif., this year to take a job with a medical marijuana dispensary.

State Sen. Joseph Vitale, chairman of a Senate health panel, told the Associated Press today he scheduled a June 8 discussion to hear from experts on a pot for patients bill (S.B. 88) proposed by Sen. Nicholas Scutari. Vitale said he supports the concept, but has questions.

"As a prosecutor, I see the detrimental effects of recreational marijuana; however, marijuana has been shown in many cases to give people with debilitating medical conditions a chance to lead normal lives," Scutari, D-Middlesex, Somerset and Union, said in a press release when he introduced the bill in January. "As a lawmaker, I want to see seriously ill people given every option for treatment and pain relief."

Scutari, a former Union County freeholder, was elected to the Senate in 2003 after Sen. Joseph Suliga announced he would not seek reelection. The Republican incumbent's decision came after he was arrested in Atlantic City for drunkenly telling a woman in the Trump Marina casino, "I want to suck your toes and work (my) way all the way up...." Suliga was killed in a bizarre accident last year while in the backseat of a car parked at a Linden go-go bar.

The freshman senator's proposal, based on the 1999 findings of the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences, would limit possession of marijuana to six plants or one ounce per patient suffering from a chronic or debilitating disease/medical condition, including: wasting syndrome, epilepsy, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, severe or chronic pain, nausea, seizures or muscle spasms.

Scutari's measure flies in the face of a June 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the federal government can prosecute people who use marijuana no matter what a state law says. To me, it's just another sign that the war on drugs is over and drugs won.

If you think the state Assembly is just paying lipservice to the pot issue consider this: During last year's gubernatorial campaign, Gov. Jon Corzine promised to sign a medical-marijuana law if one makes it to his desk.

"I believe medical marijuana is something that, if a doctor prescribes it, we need to do what is in the best interest of the patient," Corzine said during an Oct. 11 radio debate with Doug Forrester. "It's a tragedy when you're not giving the best medication to an individual."

If I were Corzine and facing a potential $5 billion budget deficit next year that's forcing him to cut funding to the state's poorest schools and to tax hospital beds, I'd seriously consider decriminalizing pot in New Jersey for adults, treating it like alcohol and taxing the heck out of it.

It would bookend nicely with the indoor tobacco smoking ban his predecessor, Gov. Richard Codey, passed before leaving office and which became law last month. It might also provide more inspiration for a new state slogan.

Don't look for a similar medical marijuna measure in Pennsylvania any time soon. The only pot proposal pending in the Legislature (H.B. 2034) would prohibit the sale of marijuana or hemp flavored candy.

That bill, introduced last year by state Rep. Thomas Corrigan, D-Bucks County, was in reaction to the sale of "Stoner Pops" at Spencer Gifts and other novelty shops.

One final note, after intense pressure from the U.S., Mexican President Vicente Fox last week asked that country's Congress to reconsider a law it passed that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs.

Fox had previously vowed to sign the law in order to free police up for other duties, such as pursuing large-scale drug dealers.

Should N.J. legalize marijuana for medical purposes?
Yes
No
I'm stoned. What was the question again?


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