The New Jersey medical marijuana program is on the verge of going mainstream.
The Assembly last week passed the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, the biggest change to the program since the bill was first signed into law nearly 10 years ago.
If the Senate approves the bill next week and Gov. Phil Murphy signs it into law, it would create a program that Sen. Joe Danielsen, D-Somerset, called a "national model" for medical marijuana programs.
The Murphy administration already has made numerous changes to the medical marijuana program, resulting in a patient population that's more than doubled -- now nearly 50,000 registered patients.
But the Honig Act would revamp nearly aspect of the medical marijuana process, from qualifying to the program to meeting with a doctor to actually purchasing cannabis.
