Edward Forchion, the Pemberton Township native best known by his alias, NJWeedman, is throwing his hat into the political ring again.

The longtime marijuana activist has filed to run as an independent candidate for one of the 8th Legislative District’s two state Assembly seats. He is one of 11 independents who have filed to run for state, county or local offices in the November general election.

The other independent candidates include Mount Holly resident Paul Bracy, who filed to run for county freeholder, and nine municipal candidates who filed to run for local offices in Bordentown Township, Chesterfield, Cinnaminson, Medford and Wrightstown.

Forchion is the best-known of the independents, having previously run third-party campaigns for governor, Congress, the state Legislature, and the Burlington County Board of Freeholders. He also has received publicity for his run-ins with the law, most recently in April last year when he was charged with possession of more than 50 grams of marijuana, possession of drugs with the intent to distribute, and possession of drug paraphernalia after state police stopped him on Route 38 in Mount Holly for rolling through a red light and found about a pound of pot in the trunk of his rental car.

Forchion is fighting the charges in Superior Court and plans to argue that New Jersey’s marijuana laws are unconstitutional because the state has recognized that the drug has medicinal value but continues to classify it as a Schedule I drug, like cocaine and heroin.

His case is expected to go to trial sometime this year.

Although Forchion submitted a petition with the required 100-plus signatures, his spot on the general election ballot is no sure thing given questions about his residency.

Forchion acknowledges that he has lived and worked in California since 2008. He runs the Liberty Bell Temple on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, a state-registered medical marijuana clinic where he legally sells pot and claims to run the only Rastafarinan ministry in the city.

In a statement accompanying his nomination petition, Forchion said that he considers himself a political exile because of his outspoken beliefs about marijuana, but that he frequently returns to New Jersey to visit family and friends and continues to consider Pemberton Township his legal residence. “Never have I renounced my citizenship to the state of New Jersey,” he said. “I am NJWeedman, not the California Weedman or the Los Angeles Weedman — the New Jersey Weedman.”

State and county officials said all independent candidate petitions remain unofficial pending further review.

If Forchion is successful in obtaining a spot on the ballot, he would run against Republican incumbents Scott Rudder of Medford and Pat Delany of Lumberton as well as Democratic challengers Sharyn Pertnoy-Schmidt of Evesham and Ray Storck of Hainesport.

In the district’s Senate race, Olympic track legend Carl Lewis is challenging Republican Dawn Marie Addiego, but his spot on the ballot is also in doubt because of an ongoing legal fight over his eligibility to run for office. Lewis owns homes in New Jersey and California, but Republicans claim he does not meet the state’s four-year residency requirement for Senate candidates because he voted in California as recently as 2009 and did not register to vote in New Jersey until he filed to run for office this spring. Lewis contends that he grew up in Willingboro and moved back to New Jersey in 2005.

Among the other independents, Bracy hopes to challenge for two available seats on the freeholder board. Democrat Mary Anne Reinhart is the lone incumbent in the race; her Democratic running mate is Machell Still-Pettis. Evesham Councilman Joseph Howarth and Moorestown businesswoman Leah Arter are the Republicans seeking the county seats.

Bracy, a former special education teacher, intended to run as an unendorsed Democrat in this month’s primary but was disqualified because he did not have enough valid signatures on his nominating petition. He then opted to run as an independent.

Bracy’s platform calls for ending pay-to-play political patronage, building a year-round homeless shelter, opening the process for appointments to county boards of education, and establishing binding arbitration in all contract negotiations between unions and the freeholders. He also seeks changes at the Burlington County Special Services School District, where he formerly worked, and wants the county to provide more support programs for poor and at-risk school districts.

“I have no alliance towards the Democratic and/or Republican power bases,” Bracy said. “I will simply represent the will of the people.”

The independents who have filed to run for municipal positions are:

Bordentown Township: Kostas Petris and Salvatore “Sal” Schiano;

Chesterfield: Jeremy Liedtka;

Cinnaminson: Austin D’Arpino, Steven J. Fowles, Kenneth J. Gertie, Scott A. Lunn;

Medford: George B. Youngkin Jr.;

Wrightstown: James K. Severns.

Three other independents filed to run for spots on the Medford Township Council, but they were disqualified because they did not have enough signatures on their nominating petitions, according to the County Clerk’s Office.

Staff writer Danielle Camilli contributed to this story.

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