0 Flares Twitter 0 Facebook 0 Google+ 0 Buffer 0 0 Flares ×

Medical marijuana use is legal in 18 states now. This is old news in California which was the first state to legalize marijuana for medical use in 1996.

New Jersey is a late comer having adopted the legalization in 2011. While advocates are plenty, use by minors still remains controversial.

 

California and New Jersey alike allow for physicians to prescribe MMJ, as it's known, to minors.

However, New Jersey's Governor is wary about allowing medical marijuana to be dispensed to children.

Chris Christie said he'll have the health commissioner take a look at the pros and cons and report back, but at the current time, he is not gung-ho about allowing doctors to prescribe it.

The Governor of the Garden State, who is rumored to be considering a run for President in 2016, said there are too many public policy implications when it comes to allowing persons under the age of 18 to have access to marijuana.

An office spokesperson reportedly said they understand where the law currently stands but the office still feels the issue is a "slippery slope".   The issue came up in relation to a Scotch Plains toddler that has been diagnosed with a very rare and severe form of epilepsy.

State law currently allows minors to receive prescriptions for medical marijuana, but parents need to get an approval from a prescribing doctor, a pediatrician and also a psychiatrist.

The parents of two year old Vivian Wilson are currently in the process of getting an OK from a family psychiatrist.   They say that regular prescription medication has not been helping.

Opponents say that pot kills brain cells.  The girls parents say that uncontrolled seizures do the same thing.

Christie is known to not be in love with the state's newly enacted medical marijuana legislation but he said he won't fight it.

Christie wants New Jersey to be a compassionate state, he said, but won't allow 18 year-olds to seek out a prescription just because they have a headache.