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TRENTON — New Jersey's medical marijuana law states the program is open to minors, but Gov. Chris Christie said today he is "not inclined to allow" children to participate.
"I'm very concerned, if we go down this slope of allowing minors to use this, where does it ends?" the governor said.
Christie was responding to a question concerning a Star-Ledger report Sunday about Vivian Wilson, a 2-year-old child with a severe and rare form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome. She received a medical marijuana identification card from the state Health Department in February, but her parents, Brian and Meghan Wilson of Scotch Plains, have been unable to find a psychiatrist to support her enrollment in the program. The law requires the approval of a pediatrician, a psychiatrist and the child's prescribing physician before the family may purchase the drug on a child's behalf.
The Wilsons are asking lawmakers to make an exception for their daughter and other seriously ill children who cannot be helped with traditional medication.
"I have the health commissioner looking at that particular situation and making recommendations to me," Christie said during a press conference in Lavallette. "But I will tell you — I've said this all along and I'll say it again — I want New Jersey to be a compassionate state. And for people who this is your only option to get pain relief, for those who are terminally ill, (and) are chronically ill, we've authorized it," the governor said.
"But I am not going to allow New Jersey to become a California or a Colorado where someone can fake a headache and get a bag of pot on every corner. So I'm very concerned, if we go down this slope of allowing minors to use this, where it ends," Christie added. "So I'll have the health commissioner look at it, report back to me, but I don't want to mislead people either, I'm not inclined to allow them to have it."
When asked to clarify Christie's comments, his spokesman Michael Drewniak said, "He’s simply concerned about the public policy implications of minors having access to legal marijuana. As he said, he views it as a slippery slope where we need to be very careful, though he understands where the regulations currently stand."
The Wilsons say prescription medications, a strict diet, and the use of an eye patch during waking hours have helped reduce the frequency and severity of Vivian's seizures, but she is still at significant health risks and her development is delayed, her parents say. They say they are anxious to obtain an edible form of marijuana high in cannabidiols, or CBDs, but low in psychoactive properties, or what gives people that high feeling. One strain, Charlotte's Web, is helping 19 children and young adults with serious forms of epilepsy in Colorado.
"Children's lives are being saved in Colorado and California," Brian Wilson said. "If Christie is against that, then what is he advocating? Death? Brain damage?"
Anthony Anzalone, a Rutherford doctor who has recommended three children to the program told The Star-Ledger the health department has asked him to hold off on enrolling more children until enough physicians representing the required specialties are participating in the program.
