Just one week into his first term as governor, Phil Murphy ordered a 60-day review of New Jersey's "constrained" medical marijuana program.
He said he would consider expanding access by allowing home delivery, upping the purchase limit and expanding the number of licensed dispensaries. He also said he will consider expanding the availability of edible products, allowing the current dispensaries to open multiple retail locations and expediting the application process for patients.
He did not mention anything about approving the expansion of the list of medical conditions approved for medical marijuana.
In New Jersey, there are more than 15,000 card-holding members in the medical marijuana program, while Michigan, a comparably-sized state, has 220,000 members.
Mike and Janet Honig, whose 7-year-old son Jake died from cancer Sunday, said during Murphy's press conference that the 2-ounce limit on cannabis sales "didn't come close" to meeting her son's needs, saying they would run out halfway through the month.
Another medical marijuana patient, Princeton High School student Charles Griebell, 18, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, an approved medical condition for medical marijuana, also suffers from Tourette syndrome, a condition that is not yet approved in the state.
Allowing other people with Tourette syndrome to use medical marijuana "would make such a difference," his mother, Diana Griebell, said.
Ken Wolski, the executive director for the Coalition for Medical Marijuana of New Jersey, says people should be allowed to grow their own plants, and any medical professional with prescription-writing authority, not just doctors, should be permitted to recommend patients to the program.
"Eight years into the program, we have 15,000 patients. In a state with 9 million people, this program is really a failure," Wolski said, praising the governor for taking a step to expand the program.
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