Grewal said he plans to convene a working group of criminal justice stakeholders to study the issue and advise him on possible solutions. He intends to issue a statewide directive by the end of next month concerning the scope and “appropriate use of prosecutorial discretion” in marijuana-related offenses in municipal court.
Grewal’s letter did not say if arrests for marijuana possession would also be put on hold, and authorities declined comment on that issue Tuesday.
It came just days after Jake Hudnut, the newly installed municipal prosecutor in Jersey City, announced that his office would seek to downgrade some marijuana charges to noncriminal offenses, seek the outright dismissal of low-level marijuana charges and divert those defendants with prior drug arrests and signs of addiction to the city’s community court.