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Getting into the Weeds with Medical Marijuana

Presented by Svetlana (Lana) Ros, Esq.

Medical marijuana has been approved for the treatment of Tourette Syndrome. However, it is not always easy to understand how to navigate the process for acquiring medical marijuana or what to expect. Join this session as we discuss how the process works and what you need to know. The decision to use medical marijuana is a very personal choice and being able to make an informed decision is critical. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more and get your questions answered.

Svetlana (Lana) Ros, Esq.

Svetlana (Lana) Ros is a partner at the law firm of Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, and is the chair of the Firm’s Health Care Practice. She works with physicians, dentists, nurses, and other health care professionals, as well as health care businesses, to help them navigate the complex and constantly evolving legal health care environment. Additionally, Lana is a sought-after presenter and frequently lectures throughout New Jersey and New York on wide ranging legal issues affecting healthcare professionals.

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The New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome Associated Disorders, and its directors and employees, assume no responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, objectivity, usefulness of the information, assume no risk. Presented on our sites. We do not endorse any recommendation, or opinion made, by any member or physician. Nor do we advocate for any treatment. You are responsible for your own medical decisions. 1:52 I’m happy to welcome our presenter tonight, Lana Ross, partner at the law firm, Parsons, Stein, Walder, and Hayden. 2:03 Lana is the chair of the firm’s healthcare practice. 2:07 She works with the physicians, dentists, nurses, and other health care professionals, as well as healthcare businesses to help them navigate the complex and constantly evolving healthcare. 2:22 Also represents clients in investigations, audits, and refund demands by private insurance companies. Medicare and Medicaid, as well as fraud and abuse investigations by Federal agencies, including the Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Inspector General, by State agencies, such as them. 2:42 Yeah, such as Departments. 2:46 Thank you. And insurance. 2:48 Um, State attorneys General, additionally, yana is sought after. 2:54 This is a sought after presenter and frequently lectures throughout New Jersey and New York on wide ranging legal issues affecting health care professionals. 3:05 Welcome. We appreciate you coming tonight. We know you’re coming at this from a legal standpoint, not a medical standpoint, so you don’t answer medical questions and we appreciate that. We’ll try to weed those out as well. 3:21 Welcome. Take it away for us. 3:25 I think Kit, so hold on. 3:27 Let me just share my screen and bear with me because I have multiple screens and I’m going to need somebody to confirm that you’re looking at the right. 3:41 Are you hard on me? 3:45 Ah, I think you’re looking online. 3:53 OK scene. 4:04 That’s going to be I wish I could tell you that that was my lead. It is not what I wish my late tasked to look like and to look I mean Can you? 4:17 We’re on the screen where I can see your notes. 4:22 You can see my notes guy than me. 4:28 Yes? 4:31 Mmm hmm. 4:34 OK, how about now that works? 4:39 OK, great, so thank you for your patience. 4:45 Kelly mentioned my name is Lana Ross, I’m an attorney. And the reason I wanted to share that with you because I just wanted to set expectations up front. I’m not a clinician, I’m not going to be able to answer any questions from a clinical standpoint. I know that prior to the presentations, there were a few people that submitted questions. A number of them work clinicals, so I apologize ahead of time. I will now be able to answer any of them, mainly because I still have a medical license to do so. 5:19 Nor am I going to, know, do I have the knowledge to answer that. 5:26 So, as Kelly mentioned, my predominant area of law that I practice in health care, and that’s kind of how I come into the space of medical cannabis. I work with healthcare providers and day-to-day, various government agencies, and thanks to such as the regulations for Medical Cannabis, began to expand at. that kind of, was it, was it different from, they said you need regulations for living, Don’t you want to know and learn these regulations as well? Of course sideway, so that’s how I found myself, in the, in this particular space. 6:05 I am part, even though I’m the Chair of the Healthcare Group at my farm, my firm is a multi specialty farm and we do have a very strong cannabis which is extremely busy right now, fielding cause related to adult use. 6:21 So we do span the whole candidacy for our clients, whether it’s from a medical standpoint or whether from adult use. 6:32 No, Laurie, I can start a presentation without, of course, giving some sort of a disclaimer. 6:37 But, basically, what I’m going to tell you upfront is that even though I’m going to be sharing my legal positions and various items with you, and whatever I say cannot be taken as an attorney client relationships. And just simply presenting information to you, even if I’m answering a question, Please understand that, I’m not your attorney advocate. This specific. And that would require separate consultation. So, nothing that, I’m telling you can be taken, or should actually be considered as legal advice even, though, again, as an attorney that can sometimes be seen as that. 7:19 The other thing I do want to mention also if I failed to mention throughout this presentation. This is this is part of this presentation is specific to New Jersey. The laws, aside from where I mentioned some of the federal regulations are some of the federal laws that prevent the predominance of this kind of this presentation is going to focus on teacher. I am I do practice in New Jersey and New York, unlicensed, and Pennsylvania as well, the New Jersey New York and the two predominant faith that I focus. 7:54 So, with those administrative pieces out of the way Lett get started, I am going to leave. My goal is to talk for about 45 minutes or so, and leave about 15 minutes for questions. Hopefully, I will address some of the questions as we go through this. I know that the presentation has also been shared with you, and I tried to include various length for things that I might have, both from the web. This way you can go and verify them. The theme of all of this is, I’m sharing some information for you, but you need to do your research. You need to stay on top of this. 8:41 A lot of medical cannabis, especially from a clinical standpoint, is very new and developing and don’t believe everything you see online. 8:54 So, again, and sharing information, use it as you’d like, but this is more of a, maybe a tool for you to start your journey to decide whether or not this is appropriate for you, or not appropriate for you. 9:09 That also said, I don’t necessarily believe that this is something that you have to engage, and this is a personal decision, and this is a conversation between you and your provider, whom you choose to utilize if you do believe that medical cannabis is something that you wanted to explore. I take no position either way. 9:33 That actually is my personal position. I think it’s not even like a disclaimer. It’s more, I think this is something that each individual has to make for themselves. So where are we, right? This is on the federal level, right now, and I’ll talk a little bit, next slide. This is still technically an illegal, well, it’s not technically illegal. 9:56 But on the State, right, on your state’s regulatory side, over the last two years, I think we’ve seen an expansion really pick up in this space from a medical use rate, as of May 2021, according to the swap. Say, we have 36 states and four territories that allow for medical use. And then we have, as of the summer, we have 18 states to territories and the District of Columbia. That also have regulations that allow for adults use. 10:35 New Jersey recently passed it, and New Jersey does have an adult use statute as well. I’ll touch upon it quickly towards the end, but the focus of this is really is the medical, the medical side of things. 10:52 All right. 10:54 Yeah. 10:55 Just some basics, and I, you know, I understand that some people may have already noticed though, but I just kind of want to lay the groundwork for things. It is important to understand that on the Federal level marijuana to consult and schedule one, what does that mean? it is still only legal document. So on the federal level? 11:20 Marijuana or medical cannabis or cannabis adult use cannabis is an illegal substance. 11:30 How do you ask, do the state pass. 11:33 This is the fun part of law, where you have federal law, you have state laws, and then they intercept that, basically, what happened, especially, where the federal government currently stands and why. I think a lot of the state has pursued passing their own laws. is that the Federal government kinda has taken a step back, as long as they see that they are actively engaged, and they’re regulating, and your income and individuals are in compliance with those regulations. So. 12:07 Back in 2009, under Obama’s Administration, he basically 10th Amendment to the Federal prosecutors, asking them to not to prosecute in states that have passed kind of sort of law, whether it’s medical or adult use. And to save the resources and knocked a prosecutor in 20 13, the Department of Justice had actually even issued a memo random or a memo. 12:37 Basically confirming that they will, at this particular time, will kind of hold off on challenging those states that have passed regulations that are contradictory to federal law. That memorandum was rescinded in 2018. And basically, that administration said, well, it’s up to the US. Attorney’s Office to decide whether or not they’re going to know what they’re going to do about it. 13:07 What does this all mean, from a very long history of it, is basically up to today. What we’ve seen is that the Federal Government has basically taken the position that if the State are regulating and they’re being diligent about it, the Federal Government is not going to utilize their resources, meaning money, everything costs money, right? 13:30 Every investigation require somebody to do it and therefore they have to spend money to investigate and to prosecute. They’ve agreed they basically taking the best step back and said we’re not going to spend government money. 13:46 Two in four the illegality of marijuana. 13:50 As long as it’s, you know, the States are patrolling it and that is being done. 13:57 one of the things that the Federal Government, see it in 20 18, is that they’ve been moved out of the definition, the prior to 2018, the entire plan, the entire, can Canada, …, our plan, which is the marijuana plan, was considered scheduled one and go back and I believe with December 20 18, the federal government basically be defined what constitute is, what constitutes marijuana. 14:33 And they’ve backed out the industrial hemp and any, um cannabinoid that are less than point 3% THC, meaning the most. The most common that we hear about a DVD CVD. quote, unquote, became legal. Next slide. Now, you have, you see it all over the place. The problem is that even though it’s legal, some of those ways is being used. It’s not necessarily in compliance with law. 15:03 That’s on the federal side, which is important to keep, you know, keep in the back of your head, because technically, and the fact that it remains an illegal substance, you’ll see throughout the presentation. It’s kind of this nagging, rotating components to why certain things are the way they are in the medical. It can be And why there’s so many restrictions and so many unknown things that are happening, because the laws to do non that child and they contradict themselves, and they just takes time for people to figure out how they’re going to work together. 15:40 New Jersey, I don’t know if any. You know, I think I was probably surprised to learn that when I really started looking at this, that New Jersey had a compassionate use medical marijuana at dating back to 2010, even though we’re super slow, and there’s all these other cities that are so far ahead of us. We’ve actually had it on the books, for quite some time. It actually was signed into law, literally the day before Chris Christie took office. He inherited it. I’m presuming that had landed on his desk the next day. You probably would not have been signed. But there was, during his two years in, as the governor, and the progress, but there was very minimal progress that took place. 16:35 And as we most likely now, when Murphy was campaigning, he made a big deal about, you know, making medical, expanding medical marijuana and making cannabis legal in the state of New Jersey. Peak ultimately succeeded, It became a little bit longer than he thought it was going to ultimately succeeded. 16:59 one of the first big change is the one of the main big changes that happen under Murphy’s Administration is a real expanded revamp of the medical marijuana. There’s a lot of revisions, and we’ll go over some of the ones that I think are probably of interest to the people on this presentation. 17:21 But basically, know that, aside from the name, change, the web from being kuma, TJ Coning, compassionate use Medical Cannabis at Nestle is really sad that it’s needed more accessible. The concept of the festival and provides various protection, encouraging those who might be interested in participating in the program to kind of partake in it. 17:49 It also establish the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which would become the overseeing body that would implement regulations and oversee medical and adult use in the State of New Jersey. 18:05 It took quite some time to get there, but a few months ago, we finally got the Commission in place, and the first meeting that they had was in April. 18:15 I can tell you the majority of everything that they’ve done so far to date has focused on adults and youth. 18:24 So going back a little bit just for again some more some basic information about cannabis like I mentioned, the marijuana plant is known as the cannabis. He’s out. 18:37 That plan actually has 80 different natural occurring cannabinoids and the to the we know the most are the ones that talks about the most THC and CBD If you really want to see me struggle, you can ask me see those names. 18:56 I’m not a scientist. I’m a lawyer. So THC is the part that gives us the Right what we, what marijuana is known for the smoking and feeling. That’s THC CBD. The part that actually was, it is no longer illegal under the Federal law is the non psychoactive cannabinoids and it potentially has various medical quality. The reason I say potentially because again and CBD is not currently being regulated by the FDA, and the FDA regulated. 19:41 Mattos call drugs and so there’s still a research that needs to be done to make various claims to CBD. 19:50 I know a retry that the CB SBA does regulated, vary, but not in the same level as they regulate prescription drugs, or over the counter drugs, CBD, kind of falls under the auspice of supplements and vitamins right now. And those are not as stringently regulated because they cannot make medical claims. 20:11 The CBD can’t know individuals who Bell CVD are not allowed to make claims, such as that. It’s going to alleviate your anxiety. Are going to treat cancer or things like that, and I’m sure you’re listening to me, you’re saying, Ron, everybody talked about. I see this all the time, Again, like I said, don’t believe, you know, there’s a lot of things taking place. 20:36 It’s going on really quickly, and there’s not enough enforcement taking place from a state level, and so, think there are things that are being said that are not necessarily always. 20:53 All right, yeah. 20:56 How, how can we be eligible? What he What conditions do you need to have in order to be eligible, to participate or consider participation in the program? So, the initial qualifying medical conditions that were part of the 2010, kuma Act, were actually called debilitating conditions. Would change the name from debilitating to qualify, and here’s the list on that I’m sharing with you. I don’t really need to go through it, but just kind of wanted to give it to you for point of reference. 21:33 Then we have, like I mentioned, Murphy comes to office. and one of the first things he does within three months in office is add five new category. And as you can see, it’s the very two terms of chronic pain migraines. And for the purpose of this presentation is Tourette’s Syndrome. 21:59 About a year later, because we are in the midst of an opioid epidemic and there is supposed to be some clinical support. 22:10 And, again, I am not saying there is that there isn’t, but our administration’s believed there was based past, duh. 22:20 The concept that if you potentially have an opioid addiction, that can be you can substitute opioids for, you can substitute medical cannabis for opioids, and so that was a way for them to try to combat the opioid addiction. 22:39 Because, again, there is believed that marijuana is non addictive, and it can help treat a lot of the pain that opioids were being prescribed for. 22:52 So just to give you an idea of how important, these additional conditions of wire when Mark. So as I mentioned, Chris Christie was in office for eight years, and the Puma Act passed right, as he took Office during his eight years in administration. We had a toll he ended. He ended his governorship with 17 about 17,000 patients in the program. 23:21 We now are aware three years into three that three years into Christic Guide. Governor Murphy’s administration, and we have in access of 100,000 patients to clearly you can see exponential growth in patients, being able to partake in the program. 23:43 And a lot of it has to do with some of the changes will go over in a bit, but also because he needed much more accessible to, um, two for those individuals that have other medical conditions. 24:03 No. 24:07 So why is the change to Program so important, so About, I guess a year and a half into his Administration, to, finally, the kuma X was reforms. And then, as I mentioned before, it is now called the J Conan Compassionate use, and so some of the important changes. I think the ones that I think are important is that the revisions to the X now allow for a patient to obtain up to three ounces of medical cannabis wed before they will only able to do was, they were only able to obtain two ounces. 24:52 They’ve also expanded the authorization period for 90 days to one year. So I think at this point, I think it might be helpful to pause and mention that. 25:04 The patient’s medical cannabis is pretty much all cash bait. 25:10 As I mentioned, that conflicts between federal and state because it is still a federally illegal substance, eubank enter this space. Most of the banks that actually do enter the space of just smaller community banks. You don’t have really any large banks coming into this space. 25:32 You have no insurance coverage for here, so this is, if you anticipate going to a medical provider, understand that you will be either paying 100% cash. Some of them may accept credit cards, but there’s even issues with credit cards. 25:47 A lot of critical companies were denying contracts when they, when they were finding out that services included four involving marijuana would be used. 26:02 So, if, if a patient needs to go and see their physician every 90 days to the new their prescription, that is every 90 days aside from, you know, monthly cost of their inquiry for paying for the medical cannabis, They’re all incurring an office visit. 26:22 And, you know, physicians and generally, charge a few hundred dollars, They’ve seen and range from, anywhere from 150, and it’s really, really low end to probably close, to 2 to 300, 350 depending on the physician. 26:35 So that’s an additional cost that somebody’s incurring quarterly. 26:41 This act allows the physician to make the decision that they do not need to see the patient as frequently. I do want to make this clearer to you, if your provider says, Well, I want to see you in 90 days, or I want to be six months, they have that, they have that, right. 27:03 They came with this revision, dude is allowed done to say, I can authorize it for you for up to a year. 27:11 But they still have to use their clinical knowledge to decide how frequently they want to see their patients. And often, especially in the beginning, when you’re trying to establish some sort of a relationship with them and also figure out what works and what doesn’t work and various other things, they may want to see you more frequently. They expect that. The other thing I wanted to mentioned in the probably just more, one of my pet peeves is that people refer to it as a prescription that you get a prescription or a refill your prescription. Again, because it is an illegal Federal subsidies and it cannot be a prescription. 27:52 You cannot use your VA to prescribe medical cannabis, even though you have to have it in order to authorize it, but it’s called what there was that it it’s not the resignation. 28:04 You authorize for the patient to go to a dispensary and obtain medical marijuana. 28:14 Additionally, again, with the concept of trying to ease access for patients, and they’ve expanded, who can authorized medical cannabis, is used to be only a physician, can do it. Now, a physician’s assistant or an advanced practice, nurse can also authorized medical cannabis. 28:33 one thing I did not mention in this, and they think it actually goes toward a question that was posed previously, is that one of the things that Murphy did through an administrative order is that he made it easier for physicians, and advanced nurses, and nurse practitioners to register with the program. Because, previously, in order for you, for physicians to be able to authorized medical cannabis, they not previously, at the law, you have to be registered, But previously, if you are registered with the program, your information would make the public, would you really deterred a lot of physicians that were really not interested in having a large patient population? 29:19 They may be interested to be registered, to be able to provide, for adult, for the existing patient. 29:26 So, now, a physician can register, but they don’t have to. 29:32 Their profile doesn’t have to be public, Which is important, because if you’re looking for a provider and you’re looking on the website, and that was a question, I think, that was posed before the presentation, you’re looking to find somebody, Don’t just look on the website, because that is a limited pool of individuals. That is a pool of individualized who have intentionally would like to build a bigger medical marijuana praxis. And they’ve been intentionally made them public invading a bigger medical marijuana pep deletion. What I suggest is, is that you speak with your actual provider first. I found that a lot of my clients were considering entering the space when more concern about their patient, and they really wanted to partake in the program just to help their existing patients. So your provider might already be registered. You just haven’t found them on the website, and they may be willing to register just for you so that they can work with you if you are interested or, and they believe that that’s something that they can help you with. 30:48 So they can register again, keeping their profile non public and not necessarily being afraid that they’re going to constantly get phone calls for patients who just would like to have a prescription for medical marijuana. So that’s just something for you to have a conversation with your providers. 31:09 Additionally, the Act provided various protections prior to 2019. There wasn’t a lot of protection provided for patients or caregivers of medical marijuana program. And so now, there is some protection from an employment standpoint from housing, sand plain, and a few others. It also provided for reciprocity. So if you are an individual who has recently relocated to New Jersey and you are you have an existing medical marijuana card from another state. They will give the reciprocity for, I believe, up to six months, so that you can find your own provider and kind of transfer the care here. 31:54 It also provides for home delivery. However, we still do not have that, is something that needs to be taken care of by the Cannabis Regulation Committee Regulatory Committee, which, as I mentioned, was just recently formed, and they have been busy dealing with regulations necessary to implement the adult. So even though we technically New Jersey technically have a phone delivery regulatory system, we don’t actually have any licenses or noise and legal to deliver a cannabis at the current moment. So everything, you go online and you find that, you know, they’ll deliver for donation. 32:39 Know, some brownies and cookies, those are all equally easily go ventures the current moment. 32:46 So if you are, if everything that I’ve said to you sound interesting, and it’s something that you want to partake, you need to find a, you know, registered healthcare professionals, and then the other piece, you’re going to have to find a defense. 33:06 So let me, I guess, move on to the next slide, because I think that’s going to talk a bit more about that. 33:13 So the law requires you to have a bonafide relationship with a physician. 33:18 Or like I mentioned, in other healthcare professionals who are allowed to authorized under the law, the relationship is one of those situations where it’s left up to the interpretation of the physician for now. And I’m very conservative. My definition of bonafide relationship probably would not match many of the physicians who are in this space, and that kind of known to be, you know, the marijuana doctor. 33:52 You have to be a resident of the State of New Jersey, and you need to have a qualifying medical condition. That’s what we read. We went over previously. 34:04 There’s very specific and helpful information. The web, that is the New Jersey actually maintains a pretty good website, and we’ll walk you through kind of what you need to do and the steps you need to take, but basically you registered with the program. There’s a teacher registered there, There are discounted typically for various individuals if you qualify and your registrations invalid. 34:30 I think what I want to focus on and what I want to stress is that there’s an importance to choosing an APC and what an ATC is an alternative Treatment center. 34:40 And four are better for our purposes. It’s what would you would know, or what’s everybody understands that the spectrum, where you would actually go to be E to purchase the medical cannabis? There’s I put in a link. New Jersey maintains an active blank of all of the license dispensaries. when you enter into the program you have to choose one of the ones that are currently open. And that is your defenses where you can go and get the medical. You get marijuana and you can ultimately change them. You just the system, you go in and you update that you want to change it, but the importance of this is bad. 35:24 You are registered with one, but you go to a different 1 2 to purchase, they won’t sell anything to you, and the other important, an important element of this, is that. 35:38 From a clinical standpoint, I think you will find that a lot of physicians don’t really have a lot of input into this space. This is still a developing area. A lot of them are interested in. A Medical Cannabis was not taught in medical school. A lot of it is based on, you know, very limited research. And so you’ll find that from a practical standpoint, the ATC your relationship with the dispenser is probably going to be where you’re going to get the most amount of the device that you are speaking With regards to concentration. With regards to form of intake whether you should be smoking you whether you should be getting it in the gummy, or whether you should look kind of flower you should be getting. 36:27 But a lot of these very advanced different various variations between concentration of H E, a T, THC, versus CBD. 36:40 Some have higher concentration of C H C and lower CBD, some have higher CBD And they in a lot of these APCs have specialists that really at least presented that they know what they’re talking about. But I think what you’ll find is that a lot of it is trial and error and be really working closely with the ATC to finding out what may or may not work for your situation. And if it does or doesn’t. 37:16 They say, no, there’s a number of parents on the line, And the line, and because I knew that, obviously, affects minors, I thought I would spend a minute just to go over the additional elements when it comes to getting a minor into our program. 37:36 The current the requirements are all the same, but they have an additional element, because we are dealing with a minor. 37:44 The healthcare practitioner that is going to be authorizing needs to be a PDA to pediatric specialists if they’re not, then what you’re going to need to have if you’re going to need to have a pediatric specialists. 37:59 Most likely a pediatrician who is willing to basically provide an opinion to the registered practitioner that says that they believe that the minor is most likely going to get some sort of therapeutic benefit from the use of medical cannabis. So, obviously, be easy to use. 38:22 Go to somebody who did, who has the pediatric specialty. If not, you can work with the pediatric specialists, They may not be willing to register into the program, but they might be willing to work with another healthcare provider who is in this space. 38:39 The other important part from a, from a parent standpoint, the parent is, or the current legal guardian, is very actively involved in this process. 38:53 Aside from, obviously, taking, they denied or to the physicians. They are actually responsible for maintaining, and controlling, and administering the medical cannabis to the patient to the nightmare. Instead, they were, when you register for the program, if mine is registering for the program, you automatically have to pick a caregiver that’s going to register along with the minor. 39:21 You don’t have to pay the fee for these weights of my understanding, but you have to have a caregiver associated with them and they are going to be legally responsible for all of the laws that oversee medical cannabis. 39:40 OK, so as I was preparing for this presentation, I was thinking, you know, I know I’m going to talk on a lot of businesses to be very interactive, but until we get to the question and answer portion, I thought, you know, what type of questions do I think that maybe come up that may be of interest? 40:01 That I can go over and make this a little bit more interesting than just dry law that I’ve been talking about so far. 40:10 So here’s some questions, I’m sure they’re not all the questions, but he’s a common question that I here can I go out medical Cannabis at home now. New Jersey doesn’t amount, does not allow for, for anything to be grown at home, whether it’s medical, whether it’s adults. So the current moment, the answer’s pretty clear. The answer is no. 40:34 How much can I buy? And we kinda went over that. 40:38 Right now you can buy up to three ounces per month how bad at it? 40:45 Can I purchase Edible? 40:47 That is an interesting one, because it really comes down to how did you decide if you look at the New Jersey website and the Q and A section? They take the position that edibles are not allowed. 41:00 But when you leave the law edibles are allowed and why the discrepancy, again, because of the different definitions. So an edible, such as a tablet, a capsule, a gummy, chewable for those are allowed. 41:17 But edible in the form of a cookie about any something that you’ve baked into it, those are not allowed. And so that’s important. 41:27 And again, you can go on the website and you can Google and they will be plenty of various companies that are currently preparing brownies and cookies, and things of that sort, and they will deliver them to your house. But that does not mean that it is legal. 41:45 There’s insurance coverage, now, unfortunately it is not covered and actually the regulations are pretty clear. They carve out, and they say that the current moment health insurance does not need to cover medical cannabis. 42:01 Can it be smoked in public? 42:04 So, the answer is, it depends again, and the rules that actually apply the same rules that apply to cigarettes. So if you can, smoke a cigarette, and then technically you can smoke medical cannabis, meaning that New Jersey has something, get the New Jersey smoke-free air Act. And basically, as most majority of people now, is basically the habits, you from smoking in public. 42:35 So, um, so while you can smoke it, it would fall under the same kind of regulations and requirements as regular smoking does. 42:47 What happens if I’m an impatient and this happens frequently, you know, you may be a medical cannabis patient and you go to the hospital, or you have a procedure and you are admitted. And when you’re admitted, they kind of take possession. If anybody’s ever been admitted to the hospital, They take possession of all of your medication and a technique we will take possession of via medical cannabis. 43:13 Generally speaking, if you come to the hospital, and you’re on some sort of, let’s say, heart medication, the general rule of thumb is that you would not be able to take your heart cells. The hospital physician will figure out what you need, and they would prescribe, and the hospital would administer those medications to you while you’re in these peaks. 43:36 Cannot prescribe medical cannabis, So, it puts them in a little bit in situation, that, they don’t really know what to do, but I would suggest you do, if you talk to the access to the hospital themselves. Most of them have passed the law of policies as to how they handle it and what generally happens. And again, each hospital HUBZone policy generally. 43:58 What happens is that they will hold possession of the medical cannabis and if you need to consume it, they will provide it to you and you will have to, You have to administrate yourself. They will not do it for you. 44:15 What about if the child needs to consume medical marijuana while they’re in school. Again, this is one of those way, I would suggest to, you have an open conversation with the school, that Your Child, A pattern. There are specific regulations that have directed non public schools to tax policies. I have seen that some of them. 44:40 Association for public schools has passed and place. 44:48 And so they have to treat that as an accommodation. So again, have that open conversation, but understand that if a child is allowed to consume from school hours, whether they are in the bus or whether they’re in school premises. 45:06 Guardian of the caregiver that is registered with the mine will have to come to the school and be the one that provides the child with the medical care. That is not something that you can delegate to and nurse. 45:21 Other questions that frequently come that, I thought I would see them separately, or a different slides are questions under employment law. This is something that constantly comes up. And I wish I could give you a clear cut answer. This is something that the employers and employees are struggling with, and not necessarily because employers all want to have very stringent laws. 45:47 A lot of them are actually … and are willing to support medical cannabis use. It’s just that regulations are not very clear for them, and they’re kind of new waters for them. The law is developing, I’m happy to report that on a very general sense. 46:08 And the lower is now provides for anti discrimination for 2, 4, 2 patients who participate in a program. So you cannot be discriminated against simply for being medical marijuana patients. 46:26 And then if, let’s say your employer has a policy, no drug policy in the test for medical cannabis and you come up positive, you, they have to give you an opportunity to present to them, that you have a medical cannabis card and therefore, you are obviously going to come up positive way. This is not the way. this gets a bit wishy washy is when you start talking about federal law today or high risk positions. There are. 47:03 Employers that rely heavily on federal funding, if you’re working for the federal government or if you are a contractor for the federal government, most of those employers are probably going to have very strict policies prohibiting any sort of drug. And that it’s so far has been supported. And the statute do allow employers in situations where they may potentially lose federal funding, or they may be in violation of federal law. Not, they give them a pass and the discrimination component. 47:38 If this is something of interest to you, I suggest following it closely. Constantly, I feel like it’s changing on a day-to-day basis. The one thing I can tell you for sure is that you cannot compete in. The statute is pretty clear that even though there you cannot be discriminated against there is no right for consumption of work. 47:59 And the best way I can kind of explain it is think of it as alcohol fuel. 48:05 If you’re not allowed to consume alcohol while you’re at work, you most likely cannot consume any sort of cannabis, whether it’s medical or recreational. Because you can’t come to work under the same thing. 48:20 Holds true for driving, whether the vehicle or they have to be one of the big trucks situation. 48:31 So you cannot be under the influence and that becomes an issue, because unlike alcohol, which you can test whether you are under the influence at the present moment. 48:44 Currently we don’t really have any sort of testing devices. 48:49 that can determine when cannabis would actually continue to determine whether or not you’re actually influence or not. That becomes kind of an issue for employers and employees and their expert supposedly. Configure the fab right, that depict the most employers don’t have an expert who can decide whether you onto their parents are not any particular moment. 49:16 So that’s pretty much most of my presentation on medical cannabis. I did want to spend a few minutes talking about adults use, because I suspect that people have questions about it and kind of how the two over lap. 49:33 And as I mentioned, in the beginning of this year, New Jersey joined the because I can’t remember at this point, states that have legalized cannabis or marijuana. We’re one of the few states that actually passed by both. Anybody voted in the new 2020 election. You may remember question one. And that path, and Governor Murphy signed it into law, March first of 2021. 50:09 And C, R C passed the regulations on August 19th. 50:17 And if anyone is interested in the question is going to be about when a vacation is it going to be accepted for adults use? I think they were supposed to start accepting them, like, two days, and I don’t think they’re going to be meeting that. So what’s what’s, you know, what, what are some of the different, You know, what, this is going to be something that a lot of people are asking for adults. We now have adult use. What’s important? What’s the relevance of having medical? I think there’s a few. Number one is, so far, all of the indication, whether it’s from the statutory standpoint, of whether it’s from our administration, has shown that medical is going to take priority over adult use. 51:05 Meaning that at least right now, the way the law is supposed to work is that we’re going to tried to make sure that the medical need is met before we allow expansion into adult use. So the huge dispensaries that we currently have right now backed up by millions and millions of dollars that are providing all of the medical cannabis in the state of New Jersey. The only way that they’re going to be allowed to start participating in the adult use. 51:42 If they can demonstrate that, they can meet the medical use before entering that space have, that’s actually going to happen, I’m not 100% sure, but at least that’s the representation. 51:54 The other thing I think is it’s important is, because I think that if and when cannabis in May is reduced, or at least a schedule, to, and becomes legal, on the federal level, I think insurance companies are going to cover, I think, legislature. There’s going to be laws that path. And they will start to provide full coverage, because they will be considered more of a medical drug versus something that is being illegal substances. 52:26 That’s probably a bit further down the line where media is bad medical cannabis, the tax class and by next year, I believe that there’s going to be no tax, the medical cannabis. Where, as adults use, you’re going to be taxed and various municipalities are enacting their various tax levels and to make money off of that. And then the other big difference is, right now, please, you can get up to three out of this medical, whereas adults, you can only get up to one. Those are just some basic, major differences. 53:03 There are obviously many more, but those are kind of, I think, the ones that are the most relevant for today’s presentation. I’m going to Angela, just by noting that I do. As I mentioned before, I think you need to do your own research and I’ve included various websites. They are government website and they are pretty well maintained. Where you can find a lot of explanations as shared with you. You can find the ACC he can find the requirements. You can find the law, Rupee interested in reading them. There’s a lot of information there. I would encourage you that this is something that you’re interested in, starting your research in that particular space. 53:46 And on that, I think, I’m out of time, So, I’m going to turn it over, and see if there’s any questions. 53:58 All right. Great. Thank you very much. 54:01 Appreciate your time on this. So we did have a few few questions come up, and I’m sure. 54:16 In the state of New Jersey, where do I get information on medical marijuana in my state? 54:25 So I think you can start by looking at that as the first true. 54:32 Slide. 54:32 I think it’s slide three and that that has, depending on what state you are, you can see. And if that slide is too small, I included the link and you can go on that link and that kind of compounds different information. And you could actually, if I remember, the map is interactive, you can click on a particular state or in, and they will tell you whether there’s adult kids, whether there is medical, whether there’s limited. And once you know that, I actually think that … 55:02 also, you can have the right, direct links for each particular state that you want to start. Ultimately. 55:10 You want to find your true source is one of the government website, and start UV search there. 55:19 Because, as I mentioned, it’s vital to be in compliance with the law to have, to minimize prosecution. 55:32 A teacher gets fired for using a medical card. 55:40 So, technically, answer is, no. 55:43 I would talk to you a Union, C, They are advancing those policies, because, like I said, um, and I would start with double checking. 55:59 What, on the drug policy for the school district? 56:06 And if you get drug tested frequently, then I would caution you on that, because you may potentially be the case that creates caseload in that space. I am not an Employment lawyer, and I don’t remember if there was any recent cases having to do with teachers, but the law does provide for protection. So I think your union probably would be the best way to start first because they’re gonna be the ones that are going to provide that level of protection. 56:40 and I would not go on what I’m going to say, because if I’m wrong, It’s not going to bode well for you. 56:50 But I think that there is supposed to be a mechanism for you to be able to participate in a program without retaliation from the school district, all right. 57:02 So, cannabis is federally illegal, but it’s legal in my state. actually traveling Does that mean I can take my medical marijuana into a state doesn’t. 57:21 Marijuana laws. 57:24 Technically, you cannot actually, if you’d be very, very technical, you can’t cross borders with medical cannabis even if you’re going into another state that has medical cannabis laws, allowing it because you said it. 57:42 So, because if you’re crossing inter-state, so in that second way of crossing borders, you’re actually entering federal, and then on top of it, whether you’re going to say that half that has medical cannabis laws or doesn’t, there are laws might be different. 58:01 So, I would check with the states, if they allow for some sort of reciprocity, but generally on the very conservative side, I would say that you should be crossing borders with medical marijuana, marijuana it’s kind of like traveling. 58:24 Think about it like traveling with an firearm, even if you’re crossing from one state to another And that allows firearms. You can really cause state borders with firearm. 58:42 Actually answered this, but I’ll ask it again. 58:44 If this was federally legal, whoo, we’d be able to good medical marijuana be covered under, I’m sure. 58:59 Yeah. 59:00 I think, I think 1 is 1, that it becomes a federally, um, legal substance, and they put it as a schedule. I would imagine they would make it schedule to a false kind of it would fall into the same category as, let’s say, your next door. 59:22 Oh my god. Why there’s like a any kind of opioid. And I would imagine the same administration that’s gonna push for it to be legalized is going to push for it to be covered under insurance. But I will say that I think those are going to be set. 59:39 I think there’s going to have, it’s going to have to become legal, and then there’s going to have to be laws that path, bad. 59:48 It needs to be covered by insurance, unless the FDA approved it as some sort of a drug, and then it becomes the coverage under insurance. 1:00:00 All right. 1:00:03 If we keep it, what It was, I think you said it was three ounces. You can legally, as was a card, and you’re just traveling was in the state of New Jersey, is there any problem having the three ounces or less on you? 1:00:24 As long as you have the medical card audio and whether it’s your medical cargo, you’re the caregiver, as long as you have the medical card, you are not the you’re not supposed to be charged with anything. You’re not a violation. 1:00:42 Definitely. 1:00:43 It has to be within State of New Jersey as yet. 1:00:47 Yeah. Great. 1:00:49 I would question of that cost thing, because I don’t know. 1:00:53 It’s just a we’ll record nine, They have their own laws. 1:01:01 And, again, you’re crossing interesting borders. Interesting. You’re getting into inter-state commerce. 1:01:06 Yep, I understand. We don’t. We don’t currently have any additional questions. We have 30 hour. 1:01:19 Somebody asked about cruise ships. 1:01:21 Well, you’re, again, You’re international laws and international law, as you’re like, I’ve never actually thought about that one. Again. 1:01:34 I would say that that’s probably not a good idea, because, Like, again, you’re like, you’re at the current moment, The regulate the importance of compliance and avoiding prosecution is being compliance within the particular state. 1:01:53 And because it is still illegal on federal, they get it specific to your state that you’re part of that particular program. Even though you may be going to different C, they are not regulating you. And that’s the important part. The Federal Government has taken the position that we’re kind of going to sit back and relax, did not use our money to enforce. Because we’re going to take the position that data over and seeing enforcement. If you’re going to, I don’t know. 1:02:26 I didn’t know a HIO, Ohio doesn’t have necessary jurisdiction over you. Because you’re not part of the program. You are registered in our program, and I would venture to say taking on a cruise ship is probably going to be considered. 1:02:41 Just regular adult use, which would be illegal. 1:02:46 Great. So thank you very much for your presentation tonight. There was a lot of interests. Our next presentation, Mental Health Immediate Stigma and Stereotypes, will be presented by Meg is scheduled for October 6, 2029, 2021. This tonight’s session. Thank you for your time and your presentation. Thank you, everyone for attending!

Comments(2)

  1. Corinne F says:

    If I live in NJ and have a medical marijuana card, can I carry my marijuana into another state?

  2. LMontgomery says:

    If prescribing physicians don’t have to appear on the state list how do we get to the right person/s?