illustration from Skunk Magazine

Printed in the current issue of Skunk Magazine; by Chris Goldstein and Beth Mann from freedomisgreen.com – It is 2012 and a team of political super-villains is plotting to keep marijuana illegal in the USA forever. The steady march to make holistic marijuana therapy available in the US is on the brink of being taken over and exploited indefinitely.

This subversive and nefarious attack is most apparent in states like California. The federal storm troopers smashing up dispensaries and beady-eyed IRS guys seizing property are simply the henchmen.

The new strategists include corporate interests and Big Pharma. These sharks smelled the cash in the water and have quickly allied themselves with old school prohibitionists for a full scale market takeover.

This evil scheme isn’t just happening in the West where legal, upstanding dispensaries are closed by the dozens; it’s a national coup with a powerful command post on the East Coast.

The State of Christie

New Jersey is a celebrity state for which most have a certain familiarity. Watching a Kevin Smith flick, singing along with The Boss and following Snooki on Twitter makes anyone feel like they have an intimate knowledge of the Garden State.

Sandwiched between New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC, there is a kind of unique, center-of-the-storm mentality to true New Jerseans. Citizens are diverse and generally wear their residency with a certain weary pride.

Yet New Jersey is the septic tank of American politics – housing some of the most off-balance, drama-filled, high-dollar and just plain sleazy elected officials in the country. Leading the pack is our Tony Soprano-like governor: Chris Christie.

Large, loud and generally angry, Christie’s most distinguishable feature is his comic-book proportions. He isn’t slightly rotund–he’s extremely obese. Yet he is light on his feet and quick with a smile. Christie possesses that superpower charm that politicians must hone in order to succeed. In fact, his girth is disarming; it distracts you from the real monster underneath.

Chris Christie has always been a political animal. A stint as a county freeholder paved his way to the State Assembly but local Republicans smacked him down at the polls. Without an elected seat, Christie haunted Trenton as a professional lobbyist. In 2000 he found his niche raising campaign cash for George W. Bush and getting chummy with Karl Rove. In 2001, Christie was tapped by President GW Bush to be the US Attorney for New Jersey.

Each state has federal prosecutors assigned and appointed by the President. The job of the US Attorneys is to fight the most serious crimes on behalf of Uncle Sam: mobsters, gangsters and Ponzi scheme operators.

This job also taught Christie all the inside baseball he would need to leverage federal prosecutors over medical marijuana later in his career.

The Gray Area Grows

US Attorney General Eric Holder, the boss of all the US Attorneys,issued a cryptic communique in 2009 concerning medical marijuana. Drafted by Deputy Attorney General David Odgen, it is now commonly referred to as the “Ogden memo.”

Forced to define a position on medical cannabis for the Obama administration, Ogden created an important outline: federal resources were not be used to prosecute individual American citizens using marijuana for a serious illness.

But Ogden had to admit, in the same memo (and in formal legalese), that US Attorneys should uphold federal law and shutdown cannabis facilities even if they were fully regulated by state law. The contradiction has created a complete circus ever since.

These wide-open loopholes left the US Attorneys, US states, and even the cannabis industry to their own interpretations. Dispensary owners viewed this protection to the individual patients as applying to their businesses. They were in for a rude awakening.

The Golden State of CA is currently experiencing its most serious sweep of dispensary shutdowns under the direction of US Attorney Melinda Haag. Like Christie, Haag’s appearance speaks volumes, and exudes a certain “cackling evil witch” quality. She aligned all of her federal resources – The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and even The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – to rabidly go after individual dispensary businesses.

While other US Attorneys in Michigan, Oregon and Colorado have taken some similar action, Haag has stood alone in her dogged and maniacal pursuit of federal marijuana prohibition. That gray area of conflict between state and federal law gives Haag full discretion to act how she pleases.

The No Garden State

On January 18, 2010, one day before he left office after one term,former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine signed the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act (CUMA) of New Jersey into law. Patients were promised full implementation within six months. Sponsoring legislators heralded it as the most “restrictive” law of its type in the nation, much to the chagrin of local activists.

New Jersey’s law was the first to eliminate home cultivation by registered patients. Instead, all qualifying residents would be forced into an approved Alternative Treatment Center (ATC) for their legal pot.

And while strict in measure, the law still lacked needed regulations and a formal structure. That was left to the incoming administration and has proven to be an unfortunate opportunity for conservative prohibition enthusiasts. On January 19, 2010, Chris Christie was sworn in as Governor,on the heels of serving as US Attorney.

Pill Pushers See Green

The old saying that politics makes strange bedfellows was probably invented outside of a cheap motel on the NJ Turnpike.

Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Merck all have major research laboratories in New Jersey. Some of their major corporate offices are based here –and not because they like Bon Jovi.

These pharmaceutical mega-giants have spent decades and billions of dollars lobbying in Trenton. This has paid off in the form of tax-breaks, favorable zoning and contracts with state academic institutions, like universities. And they aren’t the only ones: insurance companies and major hospital groups have also worked hard to make the Garden State a very comfy base for their global businesses of chemical-based healthcare.

While these mainstream medical groups have kept marijuana at arm’s length elsewhere, they have a different angle in New Jersey. The component cannabinoids within the natural cannabis plant have long been the Fort Knox of the pharma industry. This potential money-making drug is kept under lock and key by the Feds. But in New Jersey, they are drilling into the vast and wealthy vault of pharmaceutical derivatives.

Governor Chris Christie’s first move on medical marijuana showed why he is so dangerous. In 2010 he bought time for his corporate plan to solidify and then corralled the support of the NJ Legislature. The same politicians who had fought for years to get the compassionate law passed instantly acquiesced to Christie.

They smelled the cash too.

Christie and his administration have been able to create the cannabis program at their own pace and to their own design. What has emerged, almost three years late, is a Soviet-style system that is the biggest threat to the small business, holistic medical marijuana industry in America today.

Welcome to the ominous beginnings of Corporate Cannabis controlled by Big Business.

The super villain master plan is about to bring this show on the road, coming to a town near you.

Hammer and Sickle Time

Chris Christie’s designs for medical marijuana seem like they were crafted over a dinner with Josef Stalin. A set of 128-page regulations was dropped like a ton of bricks in 2010. The Department of Health, the Department of Consumer Affairs, The Office of the State Attorney General and even the Governor’s Counsel [even the State Police] would have their hands on every step of the process.

This is government at its biggest and most intrusive; the polar opposite of the conservative “hands off” Republican ideals that Christie claims to harbor.

To advocates and patients, the rules for the ATCs were nothing short of draconian. They limit growing to only three strains of cannabis per ATC and none can exceed 10% THC potency.

Patients are also limited to just 2 ounces of this mid grade pot per month. It cannot be delivered to a patient’s home; the seriously ill resident or a single designated caregiver must visit the ATC to purchase their medicine. The only three forms of cannabis allowed to be sold by a New Jersey ATC are raw plant material, lozenges and a topical cream.

No hash, no edibles, no tinctures, no genetic variety. Sterile and homogenized; NJ’s castrated cannabis has become barely medicine and barely accessible.

But it didn’t stop there. The politicians who sponsored the law said that they didn’t want a “California or Colorado” type of program, implying that anyone with a common cold could have easy access. So NJ physicians are now forced to join a special registry in order to recommend medical marijuana. Seriously ill residents cannot even apply for their ID card unless they go through one of the handful of approved doctors.

The Garden State Pot Doctor List opened in late 2011 and only about 150 of the 30,000 physicians in New Jersey signed up. When the patient registry was opened in August 2012, this concept proved itself a dismal failure. Only 18 qualifying patients registered after a week, proving if you close enough doors, few will enter.

The Soprano System

While NJ regulators starved the patients in need, they happily tossed juicy bones to corporate interests involved with mainstream medicine. Only six Alternative Treatment Centers will be providing all of the legal cannabis for a state of nine million people. This was the birth of an exclusive, state-run cartel.

Making sure to keep it in the family, Christie’s DOH awarded the NJ Alternative Treatment Center’s contracts to business groups with deep connections to Big Pharma and machine politics.

Freedomisgreen.com filed an Open Public Records Act request to obtain the ATC applications. Analysis revealed that the winners plan to invest as much as $70 million to start up each site. Much of the capital will be spent on laboratory equipment and scientists’salaries to conduct private research on cannabinoids.

The brother of former Republican NJ Governor Christine Todd Whitman, Mr. Webster Todd Jr., is the CEO of Compassionate Sciences Inc. Todd used to be the Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, a far cry from being an experienced cannabis provider.

But the buddy system doesn’t stop there. As of this writing,only one out of the six NJ ATC facilities has a full permit to grow marijuana: Greenleaf Compassion Center. NJ Assemblyman Thomas Giblin, a Democrat, is on their Medical Advisory Board. Giblin is the only sitting state elected official in the nation to be involved in this capacity at a medical marijuana facility.

*Note – As of 11/16/2012 Greenelaf has still refused to begin selling cannabis to patients citing tax concerns – even though they are the only facility fully permitted to do so.

Playing Chicken with the Fed

Chris Christie figured out how to concentrate the cash but the Stalin-style regulations weren’t enough; he had another card to play.

With his knowledge as a US Attorney, he manufactured a new conflict between New Jersey’s CUMA and federal law.

Christie claimed that he feared that NJ state employees could be at risk of federal prosecution. Using all of his expertise and power, Christie was making the ultimate move into the gray area of medical cannabis laws.

The Governor directed NJ Attorney General Paula Dow to send a letter to US Department of Justice. Christie was making President Obama and the US DOJ clarify their position on state authorized medical marijuana facilities so he could capitalize on the response.

This was all pure politics. Republican conservatives cheered. The Obama administration squirmed. The medical marijuana industry in America, rightfully, held its breath.

Deputy US Attorney General James Cole issued a new memo on June 2011 in response to New Jersey but directed to all US Attorneys. Freedomisgreen.com was the first to obtain the document and distributed its full text to the public.

Here’s the critical section:

The Odgen Memorandum was never intended to shield such activities from federal enforcement action and prosecution, even where those activities purport to comply with state law. Persons who are in the business of cultivating, selling, or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities, are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of state law. Consistent with the resource constraints and the discretion you may exercise in your district,such persons are subject to federal enforcement action, including potential prosecution.

State employees ran no risk of federal arrest. Still the USDOJ was obviously speaking directly the medical marijuana community. In layman’s terms: Ogden said that spending tax dollars to have federal prosecutors and DEA soldiers attack an American in a wheelchair smoking a joint (or growing in a closet) was a waste. But the DOJ firmly upheld the shutting down of any shop that provided that cannabis.

The Cole memo provided steel-enforcement for zealots like Melinda Haag. That was Chris Christie’s plan: provide anti marijuana US Attorneys extra ammo to go after legitimate, small-business dispensaries and make room to install their own corporatized cartel scheme.

The End Game

We used to worry that Reefer Madness-style opposition would roll back state medical marijuana laws. But the new take-over strategy relies on them being in place. Replicating the New Jersey law and the subsequent regulations is the new opposition key. Delaware and Connecticut are the most recent states to pass compassionate use: nearly exact copies of NJ. With all the built-in giveaways to corporate medical interests, this blueprint is an easy sell [to slick politicians].

Political pressure is also being put on state legislatures and even down to the county level to amend or re-regulate existing medical cannabis laws. (Guess which model they’re pushing?)

The current medical marijuana industry in America could be on the edge of a real doomsday. The next move from the likes of Haag and Christie is to shut down every single small-business cannabis garden or dispensary operation and replace them with corporate cartels. Imagine just six medical cannabis facilities for all of California.

To maximize the long-term profits, the big corporations will likely use their significant lobbying clout to fight national marijuana legalization. Given enough time to conduct secret research under exclusive state contracts, they will likely develop synthetic copies of natural cannabinoids in pill form. Those drugs would be perfectly legal and patent-able, just like Marinol (the 100% synthetic THC).

Hope still lingers. State-level pro-marijuana politicians like Assemblyman Tom Ammiano in CA and Diane Russell in Maine are pushing hard for freedom from these constraints. Longtime supporters in Washington DC like Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX) are retiring but a savvier generation is getting elected. Congressman Jared Polis (D) of Colorado is a good example.

Awareness of the opposition plan gives us tools to fight it.

The immediate pressure coming down on California from US federal agencies can be alleviated immediately by Congress or the President.

But now, only a President and/or federal legalization of cannabis will stop the corporate medical marijuana cartels run by the states.

Their next move is to go international with this wretched scheme.

Unless we focus our efforts like a laser-beam on President Obama’s stance, the prohibitionist villains will prevail.

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions?  chris@freedomisgreen.com   Note – This article was originally published on October 1, 2012 in Skunk Magazine, in print only.

Read more at freedomisgreen.com

Q&A with New Jersey Medicinal Marijuana Program Director

NJ Gov Christie denies stalling but admits rewriting medical marijuana law

IMPORTANT - Full Text: Department of Justice Memo on Medical Marijuana

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ATTORNEYS WILLIAM H. BUCKMAN AND ANNE M. DAVIS

CONTACT: Anne Davis Esq. 732 477 4700, William Buckman Esq. 856 608 9797 or Chris Goldstein 267 702 3731

CONSTITUTIONAL LAWSUIT FILED OVER FAILED NJ MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROGRAM

Trenton- Today a lawsuit was filed against the State of New Jersey over the failure to implement the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. Named in the suit are the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) Commissioner Mary O’Dowd and the newly appointed director of the Medicinal Marijuana Program John O’Brien.

Civil rights attorneys William H. Buckman of Moorestown and Anne M. Davis of Brick brought the suit on behalf of a New Jersey medical patient who would qualify for cannabis access. The suit also represents one of the few medical doctors who have registered with NJ to recommend medical marijuana.

The compassionate use law was passed in January 2010 with a six-month implementation timeline. But since 2010 a series of politically motivated regulatory, legislative and bureaucratic delays have kept the program from operating at all. None of the six approved Alternative Treatment Centers have been fully permitted by DHSS to open.

“We represent a patient who suffered actual damages as a result of these delays,” said Anne Davis, “He cannot utilize the cannabis because New Jersey’s lack of a working program means he could lose his disability pension if he tested positive for cannabis.”

Davis continued, “Our neighbors with AIDS, cancer, MS and the worst of medical conditions have testified before the legislature and changed the law. Now, patients and doctors have to go to court to win the rights that they should have already been afforded.”

The lawsuit gathers more than two years of facts demonstrating that those in charge of the implementation process for New Jersey’s medical marijuana program have been unable or unwilling to put the law into place.

“Today we are filing suit to require the DHHS to do what every other citizen must do – follow the law,” said William Buckman, “We are also insisting that pursuant to the legislature’s will, sick people have access to medical marijuana without fear of arrest.”

For more information about this advisory please contact Anne M. Davis Esq. 732 477 4700, William H. Buckman Esq. 856 608 9797 or Chris Goldstein 267 702 3731

Aaron Houston, the executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is featured in this CNBC program today. Prepare for a whole lot of pot puns.

Read more at Freedomisgreen.com

• NJ Medical Marijuana Groups: Compassionate Sciences Inc
• New Jersey Marijuana Center Applications Made Public
• Medical Marijuana Regulations Due for Washington DC
• Black Leaders Support New Marijuana Policies
• Connecticut House Passes Final Vote on Marijuana Decrim Bill

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions?  chris@freedomisgreen.com

The move last week put the nascent cannabis program in the federal government’s harsh spotlight. The April 22, 2011 letter states, in part:

As the state’s chief legal adviser to all of the departments in the Executive Branch, many of which are participating in carrying out the medical marijuana legislation, it is critical that I properly advise them as to the potential criminal and civil ramifications of their actions in carrying out their duties.

Accordingly, I ask that you provide me with clear guidance as to the enforcement position of the Department of Justice relative to New Jersey’s medical marijuana legislation and the scope of the entities and individuals who may be subject to civil suit or criminal prosecution. Read more

Medical cannabis advocates in New Jersey see the DOJ query as another hurdle thrown up by Governor Chris Christie.

“A more appropriate approach would be for the state Attorney General to insist that the federal government reschedule marijuana from its absurd Schedule I status, “ said Ken Wolski the executive director of The Coalition for Medical Marijuana NJ (CMMNJ).

”Schedule I drugs have no accepted medical uses in the U.S.  Yet New Jersey—along with 14 other states and the District of Columbia—acknowledged medical uses for marijuana through legislation.  Another dozen states are considering similar legislation, “ said Wolski, a registered nurse.

“State officials should not look to the federal government for guidance on medical marijuana,” Wolski added. “The feds are clearly locked into a position that denies current advances in science and denies the reality of an ever-growing national awareness about the medical uses of cannabis.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been conducting raids of medical marijuana dispensaries in Washington, Colorado, Montana and California. Twenty-eight raids happened in the month of March, over a dozen now in April.

No one has been arrested in any of the DEA actions that feature federal agents in paramilitary teams training automatic weapons on seriously ill patients and dispensary employees. Federal agents remove marijuana and money on the premises and then clear out the bank accounts of the businesses. New raids happened just yesterday in Spokane, WA.

The federal tactic of targeting financial assets may be particularly concerning to the medical cannabis operators in New Jersey. The six facilities are set to supply marijuana in one of the nation’s most populous states. Even with the restrictions on medical qualifications and limits of just two ounces per month for patients, the corporate-styled NJ ATCs may prove to be more expansive than the small-business models employed elsewhere.

Several of the NJ ATC groups are planning to capitalize with tens of millions of dollars.  Because these are non-profits there are no business loans, only cash. That could make them attractive targets.

New Jersey was also the first state to pass a medical marijuana law that did not allow for home cultivation. Patients must rely on the ATCs for all access to legal cannabis. When raids happen in other states they do not shut down the entire marijuana system. If similar DEA actions happened to the six NJ facilities then every single registered patient in the state would be without their medicine.

US Attorneys recently made thinly veiled threats against state employees who are tasked with the oversight of medical marijuana programs. After receiving such a letter Washington’s Governor Chris Gregoire is saying she will veto a new law authorizing medical cannabis dispensaries.

Experts urged state officials not to fold in the face of the Fed’s aggressive bluff. Hugh Spitzer, a University of Washington law professor and top constitutional scholar, sent a letter to Gregoire reported in the Spokesman-Review:

“Washington’s governor should not stand in for the federal government to frustrate the will of Washington’s voters and a legislative policy decision favoring the type of regulatory control encompassed by (the bill),” Spitzer said. Read more

Nicholas Scutari, the state Senator form New Jersey who sponsored the medical marijuana law, cut though the spin when he told the Newark Star-Ledger : “Asking the U.S. Attorney General to confirm their position appears to be merely another stall tactic by this administration,” Scutari said.

There are thousands of seriously ill New Jersey residents accessing the underground marijuana market today. After the successive delays many have already given up on the state system. They have resolved to continue risking arrest for their medication.

An AIDS patient in Burlington County, who asked not to be named, said today, “Even if they do get this thing running I’ll still go get it [marijuana] on the street. Two ounces? Right! That was never going to be enough anyway.”

The US Department of Justice has confirmed receiving the inquiry letter from New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow, but DOJ offered no time line on a response.

Read more at Freedomisgreen.com

NJ: Better to ask for permission, than beg for forgiveness

The Rise of Corporate Cannabis

NJ Medical Marijuana Groups: Compassionate Sciences Inc

Questions?       chris@freedomisgreen.com     267 702 3731

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. He volunteers with local groups to change prohibition laws including PhillyNORML and The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey.

The application states: “Our mission at Compassionate Sciences is to establish a facility and product that meets a pharma-standard of palliative care.” But the details of their operation to achieve those goals were not released.

The group had the most heavily redacted application for the medical cannabis Alternative Treatment Centers. The NJ Department of Health and Senior Services released over 130 of the 184 pages blank. Missing were financial details and information on the physical location of the site. While the rest of the facilities give a specific address or at least a town, Compassionate Sciences Inc. just lists Burlington or Camden Counties as their targeted areas to build.

What DHSS did release were the resume-style biographies for the key players. So let’s meet some of the first people who will be able to legally grow, sell and research marijuana in the Garden State.

Compassionate Sciences ATC Senior Management Team

Richard Taney, Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Taney is a chief executive with extensive experience in health care, medical technology and financial services. Mr.Taney assumed leadership of Compassionate Sciences after serving as CEO of Delcath Systems, Inc., (NASDAQ: DCTH), a medical technology company that developed a patented system for the targeted delivery of ultra-high dose chemotherapy to the liver for treatment of a variety of cancers. Under his leadership, Delcath Systems achieved widespread adoption by doctors and hospitals. Mr. Taney is also a Trustee of the Compassionate Sciences ATC.

Jack Burkholder, Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Burkholder is a consultant with more than 30 years of experience in international investment banking, corporate finance and real estate development. He has an expertise in managing complex projects involving close cooperation with governments at all levels and has served extensively in the public trust as a court-appointed receiver. Mr. Burkholder is active in his community as a member of the Real Estate Roundtable and the audit committee of his local school district. He graduated with a BS in Agriculture from Cornell University. Mr. Burkholder is also a Trustee of the Compassionate Sciences ATC.

Michael Nelson, Chief Operating Officer.
Mr. Nelson is the founder of a highly successful international outfitting business who is also the owner and operator of one of the largest and most respected ATC’s in Montana. As a grower-operator over the last six years, he has developed experience in the building of ATCs, systems design,ATC employee orientation and training and management. Mr. Nelson’s cultivation center and multiple-location dispensaries have set a standard of excellence in serving qualified patients throughout the Central and Western regions of the State. Mr.Nelson brings to his work a background in sales, management, distribution and marketing of school products to universities and high schools across the American Northwest. He is active in the Bozeman area business community and as a volunteer in a sports program for the disabled. Mr. Nelson earned a BS in Business from the University of Colorado.

Nicole Wagner, Master Grower.
Ms.Wagner is an accomplished government and academic analyst and researcher in the fields of sustainable agriculture, ecology, agronomy, statistics, engineering and economics. With an expertise in global and domestic agricultural policy, she has served as an international economist and crop assessment analyst at the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as a researcher at Montana State University. Ms. Wagner has published numerous research studies and has a deep understanding of diversified agricultural systems including organic vegetable and dairy production, conventional corn, soybean, and small grains production. She is also a director of the non-profit Community Food Alliance and works with Field Day Farms, a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm that supports 30 families. Ms. Wagner earned her PhD. in Land Resources and Environmental Sciences from Montana State University and attended the University of Minnesota where she earned her Masters and BA in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. She developed her expertise as head grower at the Mr. Nelson’s medical Cannabis facility in Montana.

Andrei Bogolubov, EVP of External Affairs.
Mr. Bogolubov is a communications professional who has served government, major multinationals, regional and emerging growth companies in a wide range of industries around the world. His expertise is in public affairs, business development and community outreach. Mr.Bogolubov’s healthcare, medical and pharmaceutical clients have included American Home Products, Bristol Myers Squibb, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, Medical Excellence, The Michael J. Fox Foundation, Pfizer, Pharmacia & Upjohn and Value Options. He also has served in government as Assistant to the Secretary for Public Affairs at the US Department of the Interior where he was also the Department’s public affairs liaison to the White House. Mr. Bogolubov developed his expertise in community relations as Director of Policy & Communications at a major national grassroots citizens lobby. Mr. Bogolubov began his public sector career on the committee staff of the Connecticut State Legislature and later served as an aide to a US Congressman.

Noel Palmer, Chemist (consultant).
Dr Noel Palmer is a respected chemist with an expertise in plant and soil chemistry. He is skilled in chromatographic and spectroscopy methods, specializing in the detection of heavy metals, pesticides, and herbicides in both soil and plant matter. He received his doctorate in analytical and soil chemistry from the University of Idaho. The focus of Dr. Palmer’s work was applying various analytical methods to look at soil systems and humic materials and their interactions with various inorganic compounds. Earlier, he managed a soil research lab at the University of Idaho. Dr. Palmer brought his skill in performing chromatographic separations to the analysis and study of Cannabis chemistry. He is a member of the board of the Alliance for Cannabis Science, an international community of Cannabis scientists. Dr Palmer is also the lab manager for Montana Botanical Analysis, a research lab in Montana focused on the study of Cannabis chemistry. His research has been published in more than 10 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Compassionate Sciences Trustees

Webster B. Todd, Jr.
Mr. Todd brings to Compassionate Sciences experience, judgment and insight he developed over the course of a distinguished career in government, politics and commercial aviation. As a public servant, he was a member of the White House staff and the New Jersey General Assembly as well as a State Department official and the Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Among his private sector achievements, Mr. Todd was the founder of Princeton Aviation Corp, Senior Director of Air Safety at the Airline Pilots Association and President of Frontier Airlines. Throughout his career, Mr. Todd has been active in the community including service as a Director of the New Jersey Commerce and Economic Growth Commission, a member of the Tewksbury Township Agricultural Advisory Board and as a New Jersey firefighter.

Dr. Steven Patierno.
Dr. Patierno is a leader in the science and medicine of cancer who is Executive Director of the George Washington University Cancer Institute. He also serves as Vivian Gill Distinguished Professor of Oncology, GW School of Medicine; Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology, Genetics & Urology, The GW School of Public Health & Health Services; Health Sciences Professor of Environmental & Occupational Health; and Founding Director of the Molecular &Cellular Oncology Program. Dr. Patierno has over two decades of experience managing over $30 million of grants including large, complex biomedical research grants (both laboratory and population sciences), as well as community-based grants in cancer disparities, prevention and control, education and outreach, and survivorship. Dr. Patierno is also an accomplished teacher who was been the recipient of the GW Medical Student’s Golden Apple Award. He is the principal mentor to 20 Ph.D. graduate students and Program Director to over 50 graduate students as well as 20postdoctoral fellows, medical residents and undergraduate trainees. Dr. Patierno earned his PhD in pharmacology at the Graduate School of Biomedical Science at University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and the MD Anderson Cancer Institute where he was awarded the prestigious Rosalie B. Hite Graduate Fellowship in Cancer Research for his work on the genetics of cancer causation.

All six of the approved ATC applications, redacted by NJ DHSS, have been posted online here for public review:  http://www.scribd.com/NJcannabisDocs

Read more at Freedomisgreen.com

The Rise of Corporate Cannabis

High Ranking Assemblyman in the NJ Cannabis Garden

4/13/2011 –

Requests for the information were filed through the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) with the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

DHSS officials said that the scoring and review documents from the application process are being released later today. The additional twenty-five unapproved applications are expected later this week.

CMMNJ and Freedomisgreen.com will continue to post the documents online for public review.

The DCist reported today:

The medical marijuana program sketched out by District officials will be more restrictive than similar programs in other states. Only five dispensaries and 10 cultivation centers will be allowed, and each will pay significant fees for licenses and registration. Only patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis will qualify, and will be limited to two ounces a month. Home cultivation will not be permitted, which has rankled advocates and raised a tough question — where exactly will cultivation centers get seeds to grow the marijuana they will then provide to dispensaries? No clear answers have yet emerged, but at a February townhall on the program, one advocate hinted that plants seized by the Metropolitan Police Department may well be a source. (There’s still the unsettled issue of how the feds will respond to the program; a recent raid in Montana and an IRS investigation into the taxes of the country’s largest dispensary in California have some local advocates worried. read more

Still, Washington DC is planning for five dispensaries in a city of approximately 600,000 residents. New Jersey is putting in just six Alternative Treatment Center (ATC) sites to serve a state with nearly 10 million people.

Applications to run the DC dispensaries are set for publication on April 17th, unless there is a federal government shutdown. The District of Columbia relies on federal funding for its municipal operations.

Read more Canna-Business news at Freedomisgreen.com

No Permit for Low Cost Marijuana Supplier in NJ

Medical cannabis growing in Oakland, CA - photo by C. Goldstein

It wasn’t easy. When it comes to growing and supplying medical marijuana New Jersey ran the most expensive application process seen to date. Just a handful of groups tried and yesterday The Department of Health and Senior Services announced the first six to gain approval.  Candidates had to overcome short deadlines, unclear regulations and significant capitalization all to run a not-for-profit business.

One group wanted to offer medical cannabis at the lowest possible cost, but they were not among those selected. Their innovative plan had the blessing of a local township and would have supplied medical marijuana at an astounding discount.

Freedomisgreen.com spoke with two of the individuals in the Compassion Collective of Camden County who had hoped to serve patients at less than $200 per ounce.

Peter Rosenfeld is the Chairman of the Board and crafted the application. He also provided the nonrefundable portion of the application fee.

How did the municipal officials respond to the ATC concept?

The officials we spoke to in the business development group were interested…they said it was unusual but it was interesting. After we gave them a presentation they thought it would be a well-controlled organization and well regulated by the state. They thought this would fit well into Pennsauken.

We were going to be growing it in a flex manufacturing zone. Our initial concern was if we needed to find a separate zone for the dispensary area. We wanted to have two locations, one for growing and one for dispensing, but I was terribly fearful of the transportation between the two. But we ended up with one location for both.

Did you know any of the individuals in the groups that were selected?

No.

Would you go through the application process again?

Let me tell you the next time around there’s going to be hundreds of applications and the competition is going to be fierce; because I expect the regulations will have been modified to a more sensible model. There are a lot of people waiting in the wings who would like to apply when the situation is more business oriented.

Tell us about the model you wanted to pursue

To offer cannabis to patients at the lowest cost possible while operating as a true non-profit.

How much?

$160 per ounce. But our goal was to lower it over time as the operation expanded… but we had a sliding scale. It was a 4-tier scale.

How did you get the cost down?

A highly efficient hydroponics assembly line, all while keeping labor down due to the automation.

What was the biggest hurdle in the application process?

The short turnaround time. From the time the final RFA rules came out to the due date was six business days: From Feb 3rd to Feb 14th

Then; how to capitalize it. Because I needed start up [investment money] even for the non-profit. I didn’t want any ownership in the ATC from anyone who wanted to make a profit. It all had to be a true business loan.

So you gave over a $20,000 check and will get $18,000 back. How do you feel about the other two grand?

It would have been a nice vacation.

Why do you think you didn’t get awarded a permit?

Probably because our model was too small for what the state was looking for. I based our model on reasonable conditions and I was expecting a rather small number of patients.

Next we spoke with Jeffrey Pollack MD, a physician in Cape May County who was named as the Medical Director on the application.

What  do you think of the six centers that got a permit?

South Jersey was left out. There are no facilities in the very southern part of the state like Cape May.

What do you think about the registry that DHSS is requiring for physicians to recommend cannabis?

It severely limits the field of doctors who can recommend marijuana. They make you fill out a form on the DHSS website showing that you have a certification in pain management and addiction control. Classically it has been oncologists who have been most vocal in recommending cannabis to their patient. They are not experts in pain management but they are losing patients to chemotherapy every day. Essentially what this does is create  de facto “Marijuana Specialist” doctors in New Jersey.

Grassroots information: www.cmmnj.org

NJ DHSS Medicinal Marijuana Program website

NJ DHSS Press Release March 21, 2011  http://www.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/dhss/njnewsline/view_article.pl?id=3681

More than 20 applicants submitted exhaustive business plans along with a $20,000 filing fee. But the regulations governing the ATC facilities have not been finalized and remain in a Legislative dispute. Potential non-profits have stated that they would find it nearly impossible to operate under the current proposed rules, even if the state does give them a green light.

Read more: NJ Health Commissioner treats medical marijuana patient

Maine’s first dispensary is actually set serve patients this week. That will represent the tangible beginning to state-regulated cannabis coming to this side of the country, but just barely.

The Portland Press Herald published an extensive piece today, well worth reading in full:

The opening of Maine’s dispensaries — the first east of Colorado — comes 16 months after voters approved a network of dispensaries to expand access to marijuana for patients with a limited number of medical conditions, such as cancer and glaucoma. Registered patients can still grow their own or have a caregiver grow marijuana for them.

Five operators have been working to set up eight dispensaries, one in each of Maine’s public health districts Read full

Medical marijuana growing - photo by Editor

Maine essentially legalized medical marijuana in 1999 and has spent the rest of the time trying to come up with a dispensary system. Until now, patients there could only grow their own cannabis or have a designated caregiver cultivate it for them.

That was also the case in Rhode Island where a medical marijuana law was passed in 2006. Patients and caregivers there could form collective gardens or cultivate personally.

Last year RI officials denied every application and then published the carefully crafted business plans online (much to the chagrin of the applicants).

The Ocean State was set to announce the winners of their second round of applicants this week but there has been another delay.

The Providence Journal - The state Health Department has once again postponed making a decision as to whom, if anyone, will be allowed to operate medical-marijuana dispensaries in Rhode Island.

In a news release Monday morning, the department said its new interim director, Dr. Michael D. Fine, needed an additional week — until March 15 — to review the 18 applications that have been submitted. Read

Unfortunately it is also a series of delays that have been seen in New Jersey. The NJ Department of Health and Human Services is moving ahead under some questionable regulations charging a $20,000 application fee.

New Jersey saw 21 groups bid to run one of six Alternative Treatment Center sites. Although the rules to operate the facilities have not been finalized Garden State officials say they will announce the winners on March 21st.

So along with Spring and Shamrocks it could be medical cannabis that green the East this month.

Unless there’s another set of delays.

YouTube video below of Diane Riportella in New Jersey who does not have any more time to spare.

More information

Maine
Grassroots http://www.asamaine.org/

Rhode Island
Grassroots http://ripatients.org/

New Jersey
Grassroots http://www.cmmnj.org

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. He volunteers with local groups to change prohibition laws including PhillyNORML and The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey. He enjoys old-school hip-hop, vintage airplanes and changing the world. Contact chris { at } freedomisgreen.com

3/17/2011- CORRECTION – Maine allows for designated caregivers to grow medical marijuana for patients as well as personal cultivation by patients. Added “or have a designated caregiver cultivate it for them.” in sixth graph.