New Jersey legalizes medical marijuana

New Jersey's legislature passed a bill yesterday to legalize medical marijuana, and Gov. Jon Corzine has said he'll sign it into law before leaving office next week.

Marijuana is now legal for some patients in more than a dozen states. But, at least based on the Jersey bill, the rules seem to be getting stricter as legalization spreads.

Medical marijuana will be limited to certain patients -- people whose prognosis gives them less than a year to live, or those with specific symptoms resulting from certain diseases, such as AIDS, cancer and Crohn's. (The bill also allows the state health department to add other diseases to the list.)

California -- where doctors have wide latitude to prescribe marijuana for patients, and pot dispensaries have proliferated in some counties -- seemed to serve as a cautionary tale for New Jersey.

Thanks Cosmic Mike and Travis!