Medical marijuana boss: Gov. Christie's pot program delay is sabotage

Amy Brittain/The Star-Ledger 03/23/2012 8:00 AM

Gov. Chris Christie and the state health department have intentionally delayed New Jersey’s medical marijuana program in an effort to sabotage it, the CEO of one of the state’s six medical marijuana dispensaries claims in a letter sent this week to Christie’s office.

And now, he’s ready to quit.

"I would like to withdraw from the program," Joe Stevens, the head of Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair, said during an interview with The Star-Ledger Thursday.

Health department officials have broken several promises to Greenleaf, Stevens claims, all while his group has incurred $170,000 in costs with no idea of when it can open for business.

"I can no longer explain away these broken promises and stay quiet while Greenleaf continues to hemorrhage vital funds on a failed program," he wrote in his letter.

Stevens said health department officials told him Greenleaf could start growing marijuana this month, with the issuance of a temporary permit, and that the group was on track to get a final permit in July.

Now, he says, those assurances have been taken back.

"Again, I was foolish," Stevens said, adding that he doubts the program will ever be running as long as Christie is in office. Greenleaf may consider "resorting to the legal process," according to the letter.

The shake-up at Greenleaf could deliver a blow to the state’s already troubled program. More than two years after the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act was signed into law, not one center has been launched. Meanwhile thousands of patients with qualifying conditions, such as Multiple sclerosis and cancer, are still waiting for the relief the drug might bring them

While some of the other centers have struggled for various reasons -- including, most recently, opposition from municipalities who don’t want them, Greenleaf was considered the leader among the group. Stevens was praised for his swift deal with Montclair, becoming the first group to secure a site. Now, the group has nearly completed work on its grow site and dispensary.

Speaking March 1 on Steve Adubato’s show on NJTV, Christie said the program’s delays are because of municipalities, not his administration.

"The problem we’re having now is something I can’t fix," he said, adding that he does support the program. "If individual municipalities do not want an alternative treatment center in their town, I cannot force them to take one."

Donna Leusner, the spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Senior Services, issued a statement Thursday in response to Greenleaf’s allegations.

"The letter is factually incorrect," she wrote. "Greenleaf submitted its application for a permit and has been asked for additional information, which we have yet to receive. Its application is still under review so it is premature to consider issuing a permit."

If Stevens walks away, it wouldn’t mean the end for Greenleaf. The chief operating officer, Julio Valentin Jr., said he and another partner are trying to change Stevens’ mind but, if that fails, they will plan to take over the group.

When it comes to Stevens’ frustrations, Valentin says he’s empathetic.

"We’ve put out tens of thousands of dollars every month with the hopes that the program could be up and running," he said. "We based our move forward with promises that were made but not kept, but we also understand that these things happen. We can’t go on a handshake. Those days are gone."

As the build-out of the facilities progressed, Stevens said he was working off a verbal promise that his group could start growing marijuana this month.

That promise, he said, was made and broken by John O’Brien Jr., a retired State Police lieutenant who was hired in November by Christie to run the program.

Leusner, the spokeswoman for the health department, did not make O’Brien available for comment Thursday.

During his interview with The Star-Ledger, Stevens said he supports O’Brien and believes he has the right intentions. But recently, Stevens said communications have broken down.

In the six-page letter to the governor, Stevens presents his version of a timeline of key events from September until last week.

Greenleaf signed leases for the dispensary and grow site in September, with the goal of starting operations by the end of 2011. In December, Greenleaf officials submitted paperwork required after the health department implemented a more rigorous backgrounding procedure, according to the letter.

To his knowledge, Stevens said, the backgrounding investigation is still not completed.

"The individuals responsible for conducting the investigations have admitted that the DHSS is ‘making things up as they go along" throughout subsequent requests for additional information," Stevens said in the letter.

During O’Brien’s visit to Greenleaf’s cultivation site in January, Stevens said he presented the idea of a preliminary permit that would allow the group to start growing marijuana before the final permits were issued.

In February, Stevens said O’Brien told him in a phone conversation that he had gotten approval for the preliminary permit, as long as he agreed to certain conditions, such as final site inspection and an agreement for an opening date.

Just last week, Stevens said O’Brien retracted his promise about the preliminary permit.

Greenleaf officials and the health department have had some disagreements about security issues, Stevens wrote in his letter.

The group was asked to install security cameras and post a security guard in a "nearby alleyway in Montclair," several buildings down from the dispensary. Stevens said his group objected because the alleyway "is not under our control and is presumably public property."

The other disagreement involved debate of adding a GPS unit during the transportation of marijuana from the grow site to the dispensary. Stevens objected, he said, because the GPS unit could be hacked and make the vehicle a "sitting duck" for criminals.