Milgram says medical marijuana proposal 'workable' but she has enforcement concerns

TRENTON - New Jersey's Attorney General Anne Milgram said she is concerned about enforcing the proposed state medicinal marijuana laws to ensure only patients can use the drug.

But she said the proposal is "workable" and her office sent recommendation to the governor's office to guard against abuses.

Under the bill, patients would have to register with the state. They would then be allowed to possess as many as six marijuana plants and have an ounce of marijuana in their possession, although they would be banned from smoking in public.

The law would also create "alternative treatment centers" that would provide marijuana to registered patients.

The legislation has passed the state Senate but has not been heard in the Assembly. Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would sign the measure.

Milgram testified Tuesday in front of the Assembly's Budget Committee over the Department of Law and Public Safety's budget, which is set to shrink 1 percent, to $1.12 billion.

Cuts mean that the largest department under her, the State Police, would not have funds for a new class or to hire new troopers during the upcoming fiscal year.

Instead, between July 2009 and June 2010, an analysis by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services shows the State Police would lose about 151 troopers, reducing the force to 2,949, approximately what it was in June 2007.

The budget cuts State Police funding by $11.1 million, to $293 million. Much of that comes from a $7 million reduction in salary expenses.

Milgram testified that the state is hoping a federal grant will help underwrite the cost of a new class.

The OLS analysis said federal funds account for

$239.3 million of the department's budget for the upcoming fiscal year, a 16.7 percent increase from present.

Also in testimony, she said when New Jersey phased out state patrols of nuclear power plants Dec. 31, it was the last to do so. The budget proposes saving $4.53 million by turning over security patrols to the plants.

She also acknowledged she was involved in the recent decision to issue warnings instead of fines for illegal 50-50 raffles at 59 of the state's 73 bowling alleys. For that, she said to laughs, "I did get a bowling ball and pin sent to me."

Earlier in the day the Department of Health and Human Services defended its decision to require AIDS patients to pay co-pays for their medicine, saying it was based on PAAD and Senior Gold copayments.

People with incomes below the federal poverty line would continue to get free prescriptions while people between 101 and 225 percent of the line would pay $6 per prescription, those with incomes between 226 and 320 percent of the line would pay $15 and those with incomes greater than 320 percent of the line would pay $30.

The federal poverty line is $10,830 for one person, with $3,740 for each additional person per household.

The department's overall budget is proposed to shrink by 2.9 percent to 3.7 billion, while relying more on federal funding from the American Economic Recovery and Investment Act to pay for early childhood intervention and federally qualified health centers.

The budget cuts New Jersey funding of the department by 22.4 percent to $1.24 billion, while at the same time, it increases federal funding by 13.5 percent to $2.1 billion.

Lawmakers have to approve the state's $29.8 billion budget by June 30.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

E-mail Derek Harper: DHarper@pressofac.com