Monday, July 27, 2009

Marijuana News in New Jersey


Judge won't let Franklin Township man cite medical need for marijuana

Posted by pcox July 27, 2009 11:38AM

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP -- A Somerset County man won't be able to use multiple
sclerosis as a defense for the 17 marijuana plants police found growing
behind his house, a Superior Court judge ruled today.

Possession of marijuana for personal use - or self-medication - is not a
defense for the charges lodged against Franklin Township resident John
Wilson, Judge Robert Reed said.

Wilson, 36, is accused of first-degree maintaining or operating a drug
production facility, second-degree manufacturing and third-degree drug
possession. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

A helicopter pilot spotted marijuana growing behind the house Wilson
rented on Skillmans Lane, and police found 17 marijuana plants, some as
tall as 6 feet, last August, authorities said. Wilson insists he was
growing it to help alleviate the pain and other symptoms he suffers.

Deputy Attorney General Russell Curley filed a motion asking Reed to bar
defense attorney James Wronko from asserting personal use as a defense
or referencing Wilson's medical condition at trial.

The argument comes as the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana
Act is pending. If it becomes a law, patients of debilitating diseases
would have structured access to the drug. But that's something for the
Legislature to decide, not the Judiciary, Reed said.

"The New Jersey Constitution has reserved to the Legislature the power
to legalize and legitimize medical marijuana use," Reed wrote. "Allowing
defendant to assert a medical marijuana defense where it is not relevant
to the elements of the crimes with which he is charged is, in effect,
judicially legitimizing the personal medical use of marijuana."

http://www.nj. com/news/ index.ssf/ 2009/07/judge_ wont_let_ franklin_ townsh.\
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