New Jersey Law

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy Signs Executive Order Expanding Access to Medical Marijuana

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order directing the New Jersey Department of Health and the Board of Medical Examiners to review the state’s existing medical marijuana program to determine ways in which to expand access to marijuana for medical purposes. Governor Murphy has stated that the goal is to eliminate barriers to access for patients who suffer from illnesses that can be treated with medical marijuana. The state’s current program has only 5 dispensaries to serve 15,000 people enrolled in the program, and limits prescriptions to only those who have certain state-approved conditions.

Executive Order #6 http://nj.gov/infobank/eo/056murphy/pdf/EO-6.pdf directs the review to include, but be limited to the following tasks:

1. An evaluation of the current rules regulating operating and siting of dispensaries and cultivation facilities with particular focus on whether relaxation of rules should be revised to remove obstructions to expansion;
2. A review of the current process for obtaining a license to operate, including recommendations to expedite the process;
3. An examination of conditions for participating physicians to ensure such requirements are not onerous;
4. An analysis of the current list of debilitating conditions for which use my be authorized and a recommendation as to whether doctors should be given flexibility to make such determination on their own;
5. An assessment of the methods through which patients obtain medical marijuana and whether rules should be amended to approve additional methods to facilitate patient access;
6. A review of regulations governing the forms in which medical marijuana can be ingested; and
7. Any other aspect of the program that hinders or fails to effectively achieve the statutory objective of ensuring safe access to medical marijuana for patients in need.

The Executive Order mandates that the review be completed within 60 days and requires that the findings be submitted and that recommendations be provided for new rules and regulations or for the elimination of existing ones.