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Committee Meeting of ASSEMBLY OVERSIGHT, REFORM AND FEDERAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE “The Committee will receive testimony from invited speakers and the public on the impact of prospective marijuana legislation on the public health, criminal justice system, and economy in New Jersey” LOCATION: Rowan University Student Center DATE: April 21, 2018 Rowan University 10:00 a.m. Glassboro, New Jersey MEMBERS OF COMMITTEE PRESENT: Assemblyman Joe Danielsen, Chair Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling, Vice Chair Assemblywoman Carol A. Murphy Assemblyman Ronald S. Dancer Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf ALSO PRESENT: Stephanie M. Wozunk Martin Sumners Natalie Ghaul Office of Legislative Services Assembly Majority Assembly Republican Committee Aide Committee Aide Committee Aide Meeting Recorded and Transcribed by The Office of Legislative Services, Public Information Office, Hearing Unit, State House Annex, PO 068, Trenton, New Jersey TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Jon M. Regis, M.D. President, and Chief Executive Officer Reliance Medical Group 2 Steven D. Weinstein, Esq. General Counsel, and Vice President Governmental Relations Rowan University 2 Brian Lee Private Citizen 4 J. Calvin Chatlos, M.D. Representing New Jersey Responsible Approaches to Marijuana Policy (NJ RAMP) 17 Rory Joseph Wells, Esq. Former Assistant Prosecutor Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, and Senior Legal Advisor NJ RAMP 28 Alysa Fornarotto-Regenye Representing Association of Student Assistance Professionals of New Jersey 41 Marielle Marlys Private Citizen 45 Arturo M. Sanchez, Esq. Vice President Compliance Terra Tech Corp. 53 Deborah R. Miran Private Citizen 73 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page Bridget Hill-Zayat, Esq. Private Citizen 76 Brian Staffa Founder, and Chief Strategy Officer BSC Group 86 Brandon P. Chewey President Asbury Park Cannabis Community, and Founder Shoreganix LLC 86 Bruce Holvenstot Representing New Jersey CannaBusiness Association 111 Joseph L. Linares, Esq. Private Citizen 111 Gabriel Traylor Private Citizen 118 Tracy McHugh Goldman Representing Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey 119 Shawn Hines Private Citizen 119 Tara Misu Private Citizen 131 Ian Nugent Private Citizen 131 William A. Riback, Esq. Private Citizen 140 Michael Ryan Private Citizen 143 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page Beth Kwart Private Citizen 145 Kurt Kwart Private Citizen 147 Stacey Gregg Private Citizen 155 APPENDIX: Marijuana is Not a Harmless Herb submitted by J. Calvin Chatlos, M.D. 1x Testimony submitted by Rory Joseph Wells, Esq. 38x Testimony submitted by Alysa Fornarotto-Regenye 40x Testimony submitted by Brandon P. Chewey 42x Diagram, plus article submitted by Bruce Holvenstot 48x Testimony submitted by Joseph L. Linares, Esq. 50x FACT (Factual Approaches to Cannabis Trade) submitted by Ian Nugent 52x pnf:1-160 ASSEMBLYMAN JOE DANIELSEN (Chair): Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee meeting to discuss cannabis products. I am Chairman Danielsen; I represent the 17th Legislative District. Before I continue any further, I’d like everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance; and I’d like to invite all veterans to salute. (all recite Pledge) Thank you. I’d like to thank everyone, starting with the staff who put this meeting together. We have one singular purpose today, and that is, again, to discuss cannabis products; any facet of that discussion. If you just bear with us; as the meeting goes forward we’re going to try to give everyone an opportunity to talk -- to present what you feel needs to be presented, and for the Committee members to ask any questions. I’d like to ask if there’s a volunteer on the Committee who would like to be a timekeeper, because we’re going to try to keep everybody under five minutes. MR. SUMNERS (Committee Aide): I’ll do that. ASSEMBLYMAN DANIELSEN: Okay; thank you. So if we cut you off at five minutes, it’s not personal. We have to be respectful for everybody who wants to get an opportunity to speak. Can you take roll call, please? 1 MS. WOZUNK (Committee Aide): Assemblyman Rumpf. ASSEMBLYMAN RUMPF: Present. MS. WOZUNK: Assemblyman Dancer. ASSEMBLYMAN DANCER: Present. MS. WOZUNK: Assemblywoman Murphy. ASSEMBLYWOMAN MURPHY: Present. MS. WOZUNK: Vice Chair Houghtaling. (no response) Chairman Danielsen. ASSEMBLYMAN DANIELSEN: Here. MS. WOZUNK: We have a quorum. ASSEMBLYMAN DANIELSEN: Okay. Our first guest we would like to invite up is Dr. Jon Regis. Oh, I’m sorry. You know what? Give me one second. J O N M. R E G I S, M.D.: Sure. ASSEMBLYMAN DANIELSEN: I’d like to give an opportunity for Dr. Steven Weinstein from Rowan University to speak a moment. S T E V E N D. W E I N S T E I N, Esq.: Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee. On behalf of our President, Ali Houshmand, and the staff, and students here at Rowan University, we just wanted to welcome you to the University and thank you for taking advantage of our space. We’re a State University, and we have many purposes. But one of them is to bring issues of public importance to the campus, and your presence here today and the witnesses that you bring out helps us fulfill that purpose of being part of the public debate. 2 If you have a chance-- We’re a University that you guys all helped make into a research university a few years back. We’re one of a couple of universities in the country that have two medical schools -- the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden; and the School of Osteopathic Medicine, which, of course, used to be part of the UMDNJ. We have a nationally ranked College of Engineering. In the last number of years, we’ve doubled our enrollment to 18,500 students. There are a couple of buildings here we just opened up which were built, in large part, with money that came out of the Building Our Future Bond issue that the Assembly and Senate helped pass, and so on. And we want to thank you for that. And we’re going to thank you for all your past budget support and anticipated support as we move through that process over the next few months. If you have a chance on your way out, I would recommend that you take a drive -- it’s 30 seconds away -- to Rowan Boulevard, which is the best example in the state of public-private enterprise working for a State university. There’s been about $1 billion worth of construction, and nothing existed a few years back; but now it’s full of students, and retail, and everything else. And it has brought in, for the Borough of Glassboro -- I think they’re over $1 million in tax revenue, where it used to be about $50,000. So we worked together with the community at all levels. We see our role, in addition to supporting students and educating them, as being an integral economic part of the southern part of the state and the entire state. 3 So with that, I’ll get out of your way and you can get on with your business. But thank you, again, for being here. Our staff is here today if you should need anything; and we hope you have a great hearing. So thanks very much. ASSEMBLYMAN DANIELSEN: Thank you, Mr. Weinstein. (applause) Okay; the next individual I would like to call up has been very patient -- here, at his third meeting, is Mr. Brian Lee. You thought I as ignoring you, didn’t you? B R I A N L E E: (off mike) No; I just thought there would be invited speakers who would be speaking first; so I didn’t expect to go first. Oh, boy; okay. Hi, my name is Brian Lee. I’m from Somerset, New Jersey. I’m from Chairman Joe Danielsen’s hometown, actually. And I am here to offer, maybe, a bit of an outsider perspective. I have never partaken of any kind of marijuana products before; and I also don’t drink, I also don’t use tobacco products. But I will say this, though. I think if -- once it becomes legalized and regulated, I would have no problem trying marijuana. And the reason for that is, it’s not unlike alcohol and tobacco -- which are substances that I know a lot of people can handle just fine. But for me personally, I’m a little worried about the risk of addiction; and you know, we know that they have some harmful effects on people. But on the other hand, marijuana -- I’ve looked into it over the years. There are also anecdotes -- people who I know who partake of 4 marijuana; and they are functional, they are fine. And we know that it is not addictive, in that it doesn’t cause withdrawals symptoms, which is a big difference in how it functions in people’s lives. And so, to me -- I’ve been to a couple of these hearings, and we’ve heard a lot of incredibly brave and forthright people who have used medical marijuana to vastly improve their lives. And I would just like to say there is the additional benefit, since we are also talking about recreational marijuana. Now, recreation sounds like fun; and from what I hear, marijuana can be fun. But it can also, you know -- it seems to be something that can improve people’s moods; and I think that’s a benefit that while it’s secondary to its medical benefits, that’s something we have to keep in mind too. And so this seems to be a product that can be beneficial, can improve people’s moods, can improve people’s health. While, on the other hand, its harmful effects are extremely minimal.