The deadline is Thursday for Gov. Phil Murphy to either sign or veto a bill to legalize marijuana. He has been holding out so far, hoping for another bill to come through that clarifies penalties for underage possession.
“We want to see fewer penalties for children, we want to make sure that kids aren’t unnecessarily intertwined with the criminal legal system,” said Amol Sinha, the executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey.
The ballot measure to legalize marijuana passed overwhelmingly in November, but the devil was in the details, and those details had to be ironed out by lawmakers. Sinha said it looks like those disagreements are now being worked out.
Lawmakers are holding a hearing on the cleanup bill on Monday. The bill establishes a series of escalating warnings for minors caught with marijuana.