Edward Forchion

Robert Edward Forchion, born July 23, 1964, and also known as NJWEEDMAN, is a cannabis activist and a perennial candidate for various New Jersey elected offices. He is a resident of the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township, New Jersey.

Forchion identifies himself as a member of the Legalize Marijuana Party and campaigns primarily on the single issue of cannabis legalization. Forchion has performed various stunts to bring attention to cannabis legalization, including smoking cannabis in front of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, as well as attempting to legally change his name to NJWeedman.com.^[1] As a result of such antics, Forchion has appeared before U.S. courts multiple times - both as a defendant facing marijuana possession charges, and a plaintiff in civil rights actions pertaining to marijuana advocacy and consumption.

Life before politics and activism

In his online autobiography^[2], Forchion claims smoking his first marijuana cigarette at age 16; he "instantly was impressed with its medicinal healing powers, in regards to his [asthma]". However, this conflicts with what he said in interview by The Trentonian: "I was 15 when I first got busted for smoking weed by my parents. And to this day my mother is against it, and just wishes I would shut up about it."^[3]

In 1982, upon graduation from Edgewood Regional High School in Atco, New Jersey, he enlisted in the New Jersey National Guard and enrolled at Claflin College, Orangeburg, South Carolina.^{[citation needed]} In 1986 he received an honorable discharge from the NJ National Guard and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, and without marijuana, he had an asthma attack and was medically discharged.^{[citation needed]} After being discharged from the Marine Corps, he changed his name to Edward and enlisted in the United States Army. While in the army he used cannabis despite the warnings from the government, to control his asthma.^{[citation needed]} On April 18, 1988 he married his first wife Pam in Fort Bliss, Texas, and in 1990 he receive an honorable discharge from the army. He became a coast-to-coast trucker using his own truck he purchased in 1994.

According to his website, Forchion is a practicing Rastafarian.^[4]

He proudly admits he was a "marijuana smuggler"^{[citation needed]}, driving hundreds of pounds of cannabis from Arizona border towns to east coast cities such as Cleveland, Ohio, Philadelphia, New York City and Camden, New Jersey. His Mexican/Cuban suppliers in Arizona were the first to dub him The New Jersey Weedman, because while other drugs were available for transport he only wanted to transport cannabis.

Legal matters

Edward Forchion has several convictions, as well as a pending case, for marijuana possession. Forchion puts himself at risk for arrest for laws criminalizing the consumption, possession, and transport of the drug, as he interprets U.S. Constitutional protections on religions freedom to allows him to circumvent these laws. As outlined in the following sections, Forchion has challenged, and U.S. courts have so far rejected, his interpretation of the law:^[5]

2000 marijuana conviction

On November 24, 1997, Forchion was arrested on marijuana trafficking charges by the Camden County Drug Task Force and locally-based DEA agents, after being found in possession of approximately 25 pounds (11.3 kilograms) of the drug. As trial commenced, a plea deal was offered: Forchion would plead guilty in exchange for a flat 10-year prison sentence. On September 20, 2000, he was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana by Judge Ronald Thompson and started his sentence.^[6]

Forchion was released after 17 months on April 3, 2002 into New Jersey's Intensive Supervision Parole (ISP). He was ordered forbidden from "promoting the use of marijuana" as a parole condition. Parole officers considered Forchion's speaking to the press, in specific, The Trentonian and "various Philadelphia newspapers", as a violation of this condition. Furthermore, parole officers were informed that "[Forchion] had been handing out fliers and protesting in front of the Burlington County Courthouse regarding the legalization of marijuana". Forchion was re-imprisoned because of this on June 6, 2002, only to be released four days later. Continuing to violate the conditions of his parole, Forchion contracted with Comcast Communications to air a series of marijuana-advocacy commercials, and continued updating his website, www.njweedman.com, which he was ordered to refrain from doing. Finally, on August 19, 2002, he was imprisoned in lieu of an ISP violation hearing scheduled for January 17, 2003.^[7]

Seeing that the parole violation was a restriction of his Constitutionally-protected First Amendment right to free speech, Forchion attempted to obtain relief in Federal court. He filed both a habeas corpus petition and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 First Amendment civil rights violation petition. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey then consolidated the actions; the Court then issued an order to show cause why a preliminary injunction should not be issued reinstating the Plaintiff to the ISP program and oral argument was held on January 21, 2003. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas's determined that Forchion was precluded from appealing the ISP Resentencing Panel and raising his constitutional challenges. The injunction was granted, Forchion v. Intensive Supervision Parole, et.al., 240 F.Supp.2d 302 (2003), freeing Forchion from prison and ordering ISP officials to give him forty-eight (48) hours notice of further intentions to violate his parole.

2005 marijuana conviction

To celebrate his freedom, Forchion held monthly Rastafarian religious services at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, where he consumed marijuana at around 4:20PM. As a national monument under U.S. Park Service jurisdiction, this eventually resulted in a Federal case against Forchion that culminated in United States v. Forchion, when park rangers issued citations on multiple dates (December 20, 2003, March 20 and April 17, 2004) for possession of a controlled substance. He would use this case as an opportunity to argue that Constitutionally-protected freedom of religion allows Rastafarians to consume marijuana as a sacrament.

The case ended up in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where a bench trial before a Magistrate Judge found Forchion guilty. On July 22, 2005, an appeal before District Judge Stewart Dalzell affirmed the convictions. Higher appeal to the U.S. 3rd Circuit was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because appeal was not timely filed.

DNA sample litigation

Forchion simultaneously fought the state of New Jersey's newly enacted DNA law, for several months his case put on hold the state's new DNA law. Eventually Forchion won his DNA case and was not obligated to surrender his DNA.^[8]

Name change petition

The Camden County Prosecutor's Office and the State of New Jersey successfully fought his petition to legally change his name to that of his website: NJWeedman.com.^[9]

Move to California

In 2008 Forchion fled to California seeking asylum, leaving the Garden State for the pot-friendly environs of Los Angeles. Forchion claimed he was living in political exile, having fled the official persecution of NJ State authorities for his political views on marijuana legalization.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009 he opened a Rastafarian Temple on Hollywood Blvd., named the Liberty Bell Temple II, after a series of protest he held at the Liberty bell in Philadelphia. At the Liberty Bell Temple he provided marijuana to hundreds of sick people every week, doing what he preached about in New Jersey. Being in Hollywood he quickly became a "hollywood personia", providing marijuana to patients and celbrities alike. NJweedman opened a party promotions company called NJWEEDMANPROMOTIONS. He stopped calling himself a "marijuana activist" and instead insisting he was now a "marijuana capitalist". He started hosting huge marijuana mansion parties in the Hollywood Hills where he openly provided marijuana to all the guests.

In 2010 Forchion became an author, of his own biography titled NJweedman Super-heroes of the Potheads ISBN/1450530311 first published on Jan 18th, 2010 ironically the same day New Jersey legalized Marijuana for medical purposes making Forchion feel vindicated for his decade of activism.

In February 2011, Forchion made the cover of SPLIFF Magazine. The article, written by Alisia Bolivar (Vol. 3, Issue 1; page 42), discusses Forchion's most recent court case, jury nullification, a brief history of jury nullification, and Forchion's Rastafarian ministry in Los Angeles, California.

Political ambitions

In 1998 as a way of supporting his planned Jury Nullification defense to the charges he was facing he announced the formation of the Legalize Marijuana Party and his intention to run for a seat on the Camden County Freeholders board and the first district Congressional seat. He now claims this was a successful tactic and has since continued to run for offices as a protest to the cannabis laws. Forchion now has a history of running for various state and federal offices as an independent candidate. Forchion has never been successful in any of his attempts for public office, which he acknowledges isn't even his goal.

2005 Governor of New Jersey race

Forchion ran for Governor of New Jersey in 2005 under the slogan of “Legalize Marijuana (G.R.I.P.)- Get Rid of Incumbent Politicians”. As with his prior campaigns, Forchion ran largely on cannabis legislation. In his official statement mailed with the sample ballots to registered New Jersey voters, Forchion accuses the "Christian Government and law enforcement officers who rely on this ungodly racist WAR ON DRUGS for their livelihoods" as interfering with his rights to freedom of religion and speech. In particular, he notes that his religion of Rastafari and his "belief that our herb/sacrament is good" is oppressed. His statement ended with the slogans "TAKE A TOKE, THEN VOTE" and "ENEMY OF THE STATE" written in capital letters.

The Governor election was held on November 8, 2005. Of the ten candidates appearing on the ballot for Governor, Forchion came in sixth place with 8,271 votes, according to unofficial election results provided by the State of New Jersey.^[10] The election was won by Democrat Jon Corzine.

2006 United States Senate election, New Jersey

Forchion ran for US Senator from New Jersey in 2006. He was placed on the ballot with the same “Legalize Marijuana (G.R.I.P.)" slogan. Forchion came in fourth place with 11,593 votes, or approximately 0.5% of the vote according to the official vote tallies.^[11] Forchion finished behind Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez, Republican candidate Thomas Kean, Jr., and Libertarian Len Flynn, but ahead of five other candidates.

2008 Congressional Campaign, New Jersey

Forchion announced that he would run for the 3rd Congressional seat in New Jersey being vacated by Jim Saxton. He will be running under the "Legalize Marijuana (G.R.I.P.)" Party. He was the only independent running against Republican Chris Myers and Democrat John Adler.^[12] The Burlington County Democratic Party challenged Forchion's petition and he was removed from the ballot due to insignificant number of valid signatures.

Other elections

Forchion ran in 2005 for a Congressional seat from New Jersey, garnering 4,914 votes, approximately 1.6% of the vote. He lost to incumbent Jim Saxton, Republican.^[13] In both 1998 and 2000, Forchion ran and lost against incumbent Congressman Rob Andrews, Democrat, receiving 1257 votes^[14] and 1959^[15] votes, respectively. In his 1998 campaign, Forchion had not yet taken the moniker of NJWeedman, and instead ran as an independent simply as "Rob."

Besides the above campaigns for Congress, Forchion also ran for New Jersey General Assembly. In 1999, Forchion received 947 votes and lost to incumbents Francis L. Bodine and Larry Chatzidakis, both Republicans.

Incarceration history

Forchion was incarcerated in Camden, New Jersey for various drug related charges. The dates of his incarceration were between December 1, 2000 and April 3, 2002. Forchion’s offenses included the following^[16]:

• 1 count/merged count of : 2C:5-2*2 Conspiracy
• 1 count/merged count of : 2C:35-5*2 CDS/Manufacture, Distribute, Dispense
• 1 count/merged count of : 2C:20-7*3 Receiving Stolen Property
• 1 count/merged count of : 2C:20-3*3 Theft by Unlawful Taking/Disposition

According to his official statement^[17] mailed with the sample ballots during his 2005 candidacy for New Jersey Governor, Forchion notes that “I’ve been jailed without the right to a fair trial (2000), imprisoned for simply saying LEGALIZE IT”. Forchion describes himself as a former political prisoner for his views.^[18]

Forchion was jailed from August 19. 2002 - Jan 24, 2003 by the State of New Jersey for attempting to air political ads calling for the end of the war on drugs.^[18] He was charged with advocating criminal activity; Forchion claimed it was a violation of his first amendment rights and filed a writ of habeas corpus. U.S. District court Judge Irena's held hearings and agreed that his imprisonment was a violation of his right to freedom of speech and ordered him freed saying; "Many elected public officials have called for a liberalization of the nation's drug laws. Simply put, Plaintiff's place in this debate will do nothing to harm a public that is already itself debating the current state of our nation's drug laws." Forchion was represented by New Jersey criminal defense attorney John Vincent Saykanic.^[19]

References

1. ^ Genzlinger, Neil. "JERSEY; Dear Graduates: Wake Up, and Thanks for Stopping By", The New York Times, May 16, 2004. Accessed December 11, 2007. "I know that your first choice for a speaker today was Edward Forchion Jr., the Brown Mills marijuana advocate whose request to have his name legally changed to NJWeedman.com was rejected by an appeals court the other day."
2. ^ "Edward Forchion (online autobiography)". www.njweedman.com. http://www.njweedman.com/bio_ed_forchion.html. Retrieved 2011-09-04. 
3. ^ "Look Who's Talking: "Weedman" burning up the scene". The Trentonian. http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2007/09/17/past%20stories/19999832.txt. Retrieved 2011-09-05. 
4. ^ "Edward Forchion (online autobiography)". www.njweedman.com. http://www.njweedman.com/bio_ed_forchion.html. Retrieved 2011-09-04. 
5. ^ "United States v. Forchion, No. 04-949, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14791, 2005 WL 2989604 (2005)". Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church Website. http://www.ethiopianzioncopticchurch.org/Cases/forchion.aspx. Retrieved 2011-09-04. 
6. ^ "Forchion v. Intensive Supervised Parole, et. al., 240 F.Supp.2d 302 (2003)". Google Scholar. http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2876332142172414722&q=Forchion&hl=en&as_sdt=2,31. Retrieved 2011-09-04. 
7. ^ "Forchion v. Intensive Supervised Parole, et. al., 240 F.Supp.2d 302 (2003)". Google Scholar. http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2876332142172414722&q=Forchion&hl=en&as_sdt=2,31. Retrieved 2011-09-04. 
8. ^ http://www.law.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/View&c=LawArticle&cid=1065122109162&t=LawArticle
9. ^ http://www.camdencounty.com/government/offices/prosecutor/mr2004/05042004.html
10. ^ http://www.state.nj.us/lps/elections/2005results/05_generalelection/unofficial_gen_elect_gov_results.pdf
11. ^ http://www.state.nj.us/oag/elections/2006results/06generalelection/2006_official-senate_tallies.pdf
12. ^ [1]
13. ^ http://www.state.nj.us/lps/elections/2004gen_results/official_04_gen_elect_congressional_results.pdf
14. ^ http://www.state.nj.us/lps/elections/elec2000/results/2000g_c_candidate_tally.html
15. ^ http://www.state.nj.us/lps/elections/elec98/results/house_tally.html
16. ^ http://www.state.nj.us/corrections/
17. ^ http://www.hallnj.org/virtualdebate/forchion_opening.jsp
18. ^ ^{a b} http://www.njweedman.com/censorship
19. ^ http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/fed/html/ca02-4331-1.html

External links

• Home page of NJWEEDMAN
• New Jersey Division of Elections

• Biography portal
• Cannabis portal
• New Jersey portal

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Name	Forchion, Edward
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Date of birth	July 23, 1964
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