A long-awaited bill to legalize marijuana in New Jersey may not pass until late this year, marking another setback in efforts to make New Jersey the ninth state to establish legal marijuana sales for adults.
If New Jersey lawmakers don't act by the end of October, other states may leapfrog ahead in authorizing marijuana sales. The drug remains illegal under federal law, but the federal government has not cracked down on states that allow it.
Voters in Michigan and North Dakota are scheduled to decide the fate of legalization initiatives in November. In August, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo formed a working group to develop the outlines of a bill to legalize marijuana.
Experts on legal weed said it likely would take a year from the time New Jersey lawmakers vote to authorize it until the first sales occur in new retail stores, although the existing six medical dispensaries could offer non-medical sales sooner than that.