Rutgers University Decline New Jersey Medical Marijuana Proposition

Regis University had been approached by the governor of New Jersey with a unique proposition: cultivate Medical Marijuana in the university's Botany Department, for sale to registered patients through several of the state's teaching-hospitals.

Rather than allow nonprofit businesses to spearhead the cultivation of cannabis for New Jersey Medical Marijuana patients, the recently elected governor turned to the university to produce the medication in a controlled, regulated environment. The medication would then be sold to patients in predetermined teaching hospitals, to further the control and regulation of distribution.

The public university, which relies on hundreds of millions in federal funding, declined the proposition. Rutgers fears that any association with the cultivation or distribution of the still federally illegal drug, could pose a threat to their continued funding. The only university or higher education facility which is authorized by the DEA and federal government to perform Marijuana research is the University of Mississippi.