"My parents told me to grow up to be anything but a drug dealer," the 30-year-old medical-marijuana activist said one recent summer afternoon on a dock overlooking a small creek in Burlington County. "I never felt like I was one."
In the eyes of law-enforcement officials, though, Begley is very much a drug dealer, a woman who allegedly picked up a package of "high-grade" marijuana shipped from California to a home in Burlington Township on Feb. 11, then led police on a short chase.
She was charged with possession with intent to distribute, eluding and resisting arrest. Her co-defendant John Claudy, who lived at the home in Burlington, was charged with possession and conspiracy, while Russell Forchion, brother of the infamous Ed "NJ Weedman" Forchion, was charged with conspiracy, accused of acting as a lookout.
Out on bail after spending 11 days in jail, Begley has taken a roundabout route into law, challenging the Garden State's stance on a drug it will soon make available to sick and dying residents, while still prosecuting those arrested with pot as if it were angel dust or Ecstasy.
She feels that public sentiment is on her side, even if prosecutors aren't.
"It does get harder and harder for the state to say you are a drug dealer in this environment," she said. "I've never wanted to go steal money to go buy more weed. It's not a sickness."
No room for home grown?
Former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signed the New Jersey Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act into law on his last day in office, and Gov. Chris Christie finally agreed in July to start implementing the program, which will make medical marijuana available at a handful of facilities for doctor-approved patients with dire medical issues.
New Jersey's program will be arguably the strictest in the nation, with no place, at least legally, for a homegrown medical-marijuana merchant like Begley.
