To anyone who figured the path of legalizing recreational marijuana use ran along blue state-red state lines, a sudden setback for cannabis advocates in New Jersey may show the issue isn't so black-and-white.
Leaders in solidly blue New Jersey are vowing it will still join the 10 states that have legalized the drug. But when a state Senate vote was abruptly put off on March 25, 2019, because it didn't have enough support, the delay was a reminder that the politics of marijuana legalization aren't purely partisan. The key question instead can be whether voters or legislators are making the decision, experts say.
βIt's a good illustration that even in a state that's entirely Democratically controlled, it's not obvious that it would be passed β or that it would be easy,β said Daniel Mallinson, a Penn State Harrisburg professor who studies how marijuana legalization and other policies spread among states.