Background: Growing a single marijuana plant is a third-degree crime under current state law, punishable by three to five years in prison. Growing 10 or more plants can be prosecuted as a first-degree crime with a mandatory minimum three-year prison sentence.
Despite overwhelming voter approval of the November constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis, and sputtering efforts to set up a legal framework for the sale and possession of the drug, Democratic lawmakers who control the Legislature have not advanced legislation to change the draconian penalties for growing weed.
Most states where recreational marijuana has been legalized permit individuals to grow a limited number of plants.
New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, and legislative leaders from his own party have struggled to reach an agreement on enabling legislation to both regulate the sale and possession of marijuana and decriminalize it.
What’s next? It’s not clear if Cardinale’s bill has any juice. It has no co-sponsors yet and no companion bill has been introduced in the Assembly. But the backing from a conservative Republican to allow growing marijuana shows there’s at least some ideological diversity in support of the idea.