TRENTON, NJ — Gov. Chris Christie has agreed to give chronically ill children easier access to medical marijuana.
However, the governor conditionally vetoed a bill on the issue because it goes further than he was willing to go.
Christie agreed to allow production of ingestible forms of pot at state-approved dispensaries and to allow dispensaries to grow more than three strains of the drug.
But he wants to leave a requirement that a psychiatrist and pediatrician sign off before children are allowed medical marijuana.
They would still need a third doctor’s recommendation if one of the others is not registered in the program.
The bill was being pushed by parents of children with severe seizure disorders who say that children elsewhere have benefited from certain strains of marijuana.
It now goes back to the Legislature.