Need Some Weed? New Jersey May Give It To You

Do you think your life would be better off with some weed in it?

New Jersey wants to know. And then it just might give you some.

OK, it's not quite that simple. The state's Department of Health announced Tuesday that it will be accepting petitions from New Jerseyans who think their "debilitating medical condition" should be added to the state's medical marijuana law, which was passed in 2010.

(You can see a list of conditions that already qualify under the law here.)

So, how do you submit a petition?

First, you'll need to go to New Jersey's medical marijuana website here. There, you can download the petition form and fill it out. Submissions must be postmarked between Aug. 1 and Aug. 31 of this year.

The form asks for the following six pieces of mandatory information:

1. "The extent to which the condition is generally accepted by the medical community and other experts as a valid, existing medical condition." Translation: You have to have a real medical condition.
2. If treatment for another disease, not the disease itself, is causing you suffering, describe "the extent to which the treatments causing suffering are generally accepted by the medical community and other experts as valid treatments for the condition." Again, the treatment has to be real.
3. "The extent to which the condition itself and/or the treatments thereof cause severe
   suffering." In other words, what's happening? How do you actually feel? And is it impacting your daily life?
4. What other treatment options do you have besides the ones that are causing you suffering?
5. What medical evidence is out there that medical marijuana could actually ease your suffering?
6. And finally, letters of support from "physicians or other licensed health care professional
   knowledgeable about the condition."

Once you have all that, mail your petition to the following address:

New Jersey Department of Health
Office of Commissioner – Medicinal Marijuana Program
369 South Warren Street
Trenton, NJ 08618
Attention: Michele Stark

Click here for more information.

Activists have said that New Jersey's medical marijuana program isn't doing enough for various reasons.

“Although the Garden State’s medical marijuana program was signed into law in 2010, implementation has been slow,” the Marijuana Policy Project says on its website.

“Currently, it serves only about 6,466 patients — a far lower proportion of the population than most other medical cannabis states — despite having been made law more than five years ago. Meanwhile, only five of the six permitted treatment centers are operational.”

New Jersey lawmakers have also lobbied for more conditions to be added to the list, most notably post-traumatic stress disorder. Under the law, the health department has sole authority to add new conditions.