| New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. |
Congratulations, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: you’ve driven at least one family out of your state due to your complete lack of compassion when it comes to medical cannabis.
Meghan and Brian Wilson say that despite laws passed to help ease access to medical cannabis for children in New Jersey, their two-year-old daughter Vivian still lives a miserable existence fighting seizures caused by Dravet’s syndrome that could be helped with cannabis oil that isn’t available.
For months now since law changes took place, the Wilsons have argued that the program is moving too slow. The couple recently helped get a bill sponsored that would have allowed for reciprocity of medical marijuana licenses between New Jersey and other medical marijuana states. The idea was that the Wilson’s would be able to purchase high-CBD oils out of state and then bring them back to New Jersey. But Christie’s staunch and pig-headed opposition to the bill drove the Wilsons to the life-changing decision to move across the country.
“I think a big turning point for us moving was the reciprocity bill,” Meghan Wilson told the ScotchPlains-Fanwood Patch over the weekend. “And then the same day Gov. Christie said ‘I’m done moving this forward,’ a 15-month-old baby with Dravet died – Sabina Joana, whose parents had just gone through the whole process to get her card. We realized nothing is going to get better for as long as Christie is in office. This is Vivian’s life. We can’t wait anymore.”
She went on to call out the governor for his callousness.
“He has no respect for this program, no respect for the fact that the plant has healing qualities,” she said. “He’s doing everyone in the state a disservice and it’s a shame. Things are changing, views on marijuana are changing. One day he’ll get it, or one day he or someone he loves will be stricken with an illness marijuana can treat. Maybe then he will feel some remorse for the way he’s treated our family.”
Despite the daunting move ahead of them, there is some brightness: Magical Butter, the company that makes the all-in-one butter- and oil-infusing kitchen device (Editor’s note: the things are awesome), has donated $10,000 towards helping the Wilsons relocate.
The Wilsons say they are looking forward to Colorado, but add that they really want to be staying back home in New Jersey and plan to eventually move back.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Meghan Wilson said. “At this point, it’s a matter of let’s put our emotions aside and make this happen. We’re hoping we will only be out there for a couple years. In two years, the climate federally could be different, there could be special access laws for patients where they would be able to travel across state lines. And there are worse places to move. We’re glad Charlotte’s Web [a high-CBD strain]is in Denver.”