“So far it has been pretty disappointing to see long-time legislators failing to deliver their promise to end prohibition,” Chris Goldstein, an activist, writer and educator from Philadelphia told The Marijuana Times. “In 2016, at the Democratic National Convention, the party passed a platform stance called ‘A Pathway to Legalization’. But the machine Democrats of New Jersey have put up nothing but roadblocks ever since. In some ways we can’t expect Trenton to have the courage to regulate adult-use cannabis when no other state legislature has taken that plunge yet. NJ is rarely the first penguin on any progressive issue.”
Compounding the problem, according to Chris, “is that New Jersey’s marijuana possession arrests are increasing exponentially, with more than 32,000 per year at last report.”
So what happens now? Currently, the plan seems to be for the legislature to focus on expanding medical marijuana access in the state while kicking the can that is recreational legalization down the road to voters in the form of a referendum in 2020.
“The ballot option is another cry-wolf from legislators,” Chris said. “Unlike Colorado, California or Massachusetts, the good old Garden State does not have a direct-to-law ballot process available to voters. Here, the legislature can send a question to voters, then – even if it’s approved at the polls – the legislature has to pass a law…and they don’t actually have to complete the process. Really, a non-binding ballot question would push back a legislative vote until 2022.”