Legislation that would legalize marijuana for recreational use in New Jersey appears to be dead — at least for now.
The Democrat-controlled Legislature no longer expects to vote this month on a package of three bills that would legalize cannabis for recreational use, expand the state’s medical marijuana program and create new ways to expunge old records of criminal charges, according to two legislative sources familiar with the discussions.
Instead, the Legislature might move forward on a medical cannabis bill, NJ S10 (18R), independent of the recreational use and expungement measures, the sources said.
“This thing is dead. They just need to call it,” one legislative source said.
Gov. Phil Murphy, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin were scheduled to discuss potential changes to the legalization bill at a meeting Thursday afternoon. However, Sweeney (D-Gloucester) refused to attend amid the ongoing, and increasingly contentious, dispute between the administration and South Jersey officials who believe a Murphy-appointed task force’s investigation of the state’s tax incentive programs to be politically motivated.