Call him paranoid, but the dean of Rutgers University’s biological-sciences school says that Rutgers University would risk millions of dollars in federal grant money by becoming the official pot farm for the State of New Jersey.
Robert Goodman, dean of the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, said today that the university could not accept Gov. Chris Christie’s request that it become the sole grower of medical marijuana in the state.
“Higher education is infinitely tied to the federal government, operating under the presumption we are not violating federal law,” Mr. Goodman, who is executive director of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, told NorthJersey.com. “We were sincerely interested in the opportunity, but we had external counsel and our folks look into it and yesterday it became totally clear we could not do this.”
A legislative proposal being considered would have as many as a half dozen nonprofit organizations produce and distribute medical marijuana. Gov. Christie had sought to have Rutgers use its agricultural expertise to grow the marijuana and to have teaching hospitals dispense it.
A gubernatorial pipe dream? Or just the latest brainstorm by a Garden Stater seeking to take advantage of New Jersey’s exceptionally fertile soil? Whichever, the idea looks to be snuffed out for now. —Don Troop
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3 Responses to Governor’s Dream of Pot Farm at Rutgers Goes Up in Smoke
mr_tibs - July 23, 2010 at 5:16 pm
On a related note, at the 18th International AIDS Conference, there was a call for the war on drugs to be abandoned as it was a failure and the continued criminalization of illicit substances only added to the increasing number of HIV/AIDS cases.
akprof - July 23, 2010 at 5:34 pm
Seems to me that the correct response of the Federal government would be to remove marijuana from its list of Schedule I drugs – and legalize it as a prescription drug
dank48 - July 26, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I agree with Akprof. The Federal government has a legitimate role in protecting citizens from adulteration, fraud, poisoning, and the like, hence the FDA. For all its faults, the FDA means we are no longer offered “reducing pills” containing tapeworm eggs or “baby pacifiers” containing morphine sulfate. The Federal government does not, however, have a legitimate role in telling citizens what they may and may not ingest. It is none of Big Brother’s business what people drink, eat, smoke, inject, or otherwise ingest. (And, should people make bad choices, it should be borne in mind that it is not Big Brother’s responsibility to pick up the pieces, either.)The War on Drugs is one addiction this country can no longer afford. It was a bad idea in the first place; the laws it’s based on are bad laws; we can’t afford it financially, socially, or morally. It’s not only dumb and expensive; it’s simply immoral, unethical, and evil.