NJ Health Department Says Info on Medical Marijuana Users Disclosed Inadvertently
By David Madden
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) -- New Jersey health officials are apologizing for an e-mail that went out this week to more than 400 participants in the state's medical marijuana program.
The note displayed the e-mail addresses and in many cases the names of recipients, which could violate federal privacy regulations.
That's the view of one recipient, Lisa Segal of Wenonah, NJ, who is also a registered nurse.
But she says she was also concerned about the tone of the message.
"They had received calls that people were rude and that they were not going to be tolerating those type of phone calls," she says the e-mail message said.
The health department, in a followup e-mail, admitted that it had "inadvertently sent an insensitive message that disclosed patient e-mail addresses," apologized, and vowed it wouldn't happen again.
It should be noted that only one of the six approved dispensaries has opened so far in the state, almost three years after the law took effect.
