NEW JERSEY:   The co-founder of the medical marijuana dispensary in Egg Harbor Township will appear in court Wednesday to dispute claims he blocked his employees’ attempts to join a union in a case that is being watched across the nation. 

And this isn’t even David Knowlton’s biggest problem.

Knowlton, board chairman of the nonprofit Compassionate Care Foundation dispensary, is not a lawyer, and he can’t find one to represent him before the National Labor Relations Board. State law created a medicinal marijuana program, but to the federal government, growing and possessing marijuana remain illegal activities. Rules of professional conduct say attorneys cannot advise or assist their clients engage in “conduct a lawyer knows is criminal or fraudulent.”