Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie stunned critics this past Wednesday by stepping up and expanding the state’s medical marijuana program, signing his name on a bill allowing post-traumatic stress disorder to be added to the program’s list of qualified medical issues. On Thursday, the Republican governor, who has previously characterized the efforts to expand medical marijuana as a “Front for legalization,” signed his name on a proposal that includes PTSD sufferers in the state’s medical marijuana program.
Highlighting that close to 20 percent of the veterans who served in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are living with PTSD, Christie states the new law “Would provide struggling veterans and others with the ability to use medical marijuana to treat PTSD.”
The law requires the patient’s doctor or medical physician to confirm that conventional medical treatment is useless. Assemblyman Tim Eustace, the lawmaker responsible for moving Assembly Bill 457 through the legislature, stated that while adding PTSD the list of medical issues that would allow patients to use cannabis is a victory, New Jersey’s law remains far from comprehensive.
Eustace told North Jersey.com that he plans to address the issue of adding more qualified conditions in the near future, as well as make a push to allow edible cannabis products for children suffering from epilepsy. Currently, New Jersey ‘s medical marijuana program only provides patients with a handful of serious medical issues to access the program.
Christie’s supports adding PTSD to the state’s list of qualified medical issues which comes weeks after more than 18,000 people signed a petition on Change.org calling on him to add his signature to the bill.
Christie can’t run for re-election in 2017 because of the state’s term limits law. Ironically, veterans hoping to get their hands on medical marijuana will need to find a doctor outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs to make it happen.
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