Gov. Phil Murphy is giving the Legislature limited time to pass recreational marijuana and the bill it’s connected to that would expand the state’s medical marijuana program. Otherwise, he said, he will turn his focus to medical marijuana expansion.
“I’m prepared to hold off for a short amount of time, and I would say the month of May would be the edge of that,” Murphy said Thursday. “I’m still confident we can go on and get it done legislatively. I’m open-minded and supportive for the Legislature to go back at it and find those last few votes we couldn’t get. But it can’t be an unending calendar. We owe too much to the folks; in some cases, it’s a question of life or death.”
The expansion bill would increase the state’s number of dispensaries and allow patients to buy more cannabis monthly. Legislative leaders have packaged the bills together in hopes that support for medical expansion would bring in some more “yes” votes for recreational weed.