It's always 4:20 in New Jersey

'You may have Princeton, but that doesn't make you classy.'
'So… did you go to high school with Pauly D?'
'Is fist pumping the only way you know how to dance?'
Etc., etc., etc.
Going to school in Buffalo can be aggravating when people find out that I'm from New Jersey. In addition to getting asked the less-than-clever questions above, I'm also frequently talked to in a horrific 'New Joisey' accent (even though I've been told that I don't have one) and then harangued about all the things that my state doesn't have to offer.
Well guess what, New York? The grass is finally greener on the power plant-polluted other side.
Jerseyans suffering from serious diseases like AIDS, Crohn's disease, glaucoma and cancer now have a new, smoky way to alleviate their pain. Patients can now buy up to two ounces of marijuana, without any retribution, as long as they have a card given to them by their primary physician.
According to www.nj.com, the 'dirty Jerz' joined 14 other states on Monday when it signed legislation granting chronically ill patients legal access to marijuana. This will go into effect in six months.
Doctors can provide recommendations that make it legal for chronically ill patients to use marijuana as therapy. According to the Web site, there will be new pharmacies called alternate treatment centers that will produce and distribute marijuana.
Before my fellow Garden State reps pull back the drapes to show off the halogen lights growing their basement bud, I should tell you that it's still illegal for the public to grow and sell marijuana. It's also still illegal to drive while high.
According to Assembly Sponsor Reed Gusciora, New Jersey's medical marijuana law is the strictest in the country, as stated in an article by The Buffalo News.
There has been a constant struggle for the legalization of marijuana ever since it was banned by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, and like many college-aged young adults, I don't quite understand why the government still makes such a big deal over the seemingly harmless plant.
Marijuana is much safer than alcohol, which is available to any person at least 21 years old (or younger if you have 'alternate identification'). In fact, in a recent study done by the University of California, San Diego, it was proven that marijuana blocks damage to your brain caused by binge drinking.
According to an article written by David F. Musto in The Child Study Center, School of Medicine, and the Department of History, at Yale University, the Act was put in place because the government was pressured by enforcement agencies and other groups who feared that marijuana was produced and spread by Mexicans.
Racist much?
That being said, there was really no valid reason for marijuana to be banned in the U.S., and hopefully other states will follow through in their pursuit to legalize medical marijuana.
Until then, smoke up, oh ye injured of New Jersey. You deserve it. And for New York? Stick to alcohol and painkillers – as if you had a choice, anyway.

E-mail: rachel.lamb@ubspectrum.com