On the final day of the legislative session, Gov. Corzine said he would sign it before leaving office next Tuesday:

The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure on Monday that would make the state the 14th in the nation, but one of the few on the East Coast, to legalize the use of marijuana to help patients with chronic illnesses.

Stricter than most, the NJ bill will prohibit doctors from prescribing marijuana for anything less than a terminal illness or debilitating condition, such as cancer, AIDS or multiple sclerosis.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, California is looking at legalizing marijuana for adult recreational use. Raw Story:

While voter initiatives have ensured that legalization will be on the 2010 ballot, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) may be two steps ahead of them. A long time proponent of legalization, Ammiano chairs the assembly’s Public Safety Committee, where he plans to hold the first hearing on marijuana legalization in the history of the United States.

His bill, the Marijuana Legalization, Regulation, and Education Act, would tax and regulate marijuana similarly to alcohol. The committee has scheduled a hearing and vote on Tuesday, after which Ammiano plans to hold a press conference, according to San Diego News Room.

James Anthony, a former prosecutor in Oakland, and a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), says it’s about time:

[F]or the sake of our children, our communities, our law enforcement agencies, the environment, and the well being of the entire state. The myth that marijuana is individually harmful enough to be prohibited has been fully exposed. Marijuana is much safer than alcohol. It cannot even begin to compare to tobacco in toxicity. It is used by hundreds of thousands of Californians safely as medicine.

And in Washington state, five activists have filed a ballot initiative that would legalize all adult marijuana possession.