Marijuana advocates said at a meeting Tuesday one of the biggest impediments that could keep Trenton from embracing the cannabis culture is the “Cheech and Chong” stereotype of the drugged-out comedians ripping from the bong during one of their THC-laced trips.
A Trenton man who once spent time behind bars for dealing drugs is now in the running to become a medical marijuana dealer in the Garden State.
Trenton City Council is expected to introduce an ordinance Tuesday that would designate a section of the city as a medical cannabis area.
"Who's in a better position to sell drugs than a drug dealer," said Tracey Syphax, founder of new company TrentonMetro, a health care-focused marijuana organization that filed for an application with the New Jersey Department of Health last week.
A recent bill, S-2702 — which was introduced to the state Senate by Senator Nicholas Scutari on June 7th, and would legalize marijuana for all adults over 21 — includes a provision about expungement, though it would still require an application. Advocates want this expungement to be automatic, where the state takes on the process of expunging records rather than the person charged. However Kate Bell, legislative council for the Marijuana Policy Project, says that the phrase “automatic” is very misleading.
The state attorney general's office will soon announce that it will not seek to extend a statewide adjournment of marijuana possession cases in municipal court when an order expires on Sept. 4th, according to two people with knowledge of the decision.
Instead, the attorney general's office will issue guidance to New Jersey's local, municipal and county prosecutors informing them that while marijuana possession remains illegal, they may exercise discretion and decide not to prosecute some simple possession cases.
Sen. Nicholas Scutari’s bill only requires the issuance of at least one marijuana license for each county, with enough establishments to “ensure that there are adequate licensed premises to serve the market demands of the county during the peak seasons.”