The votes were a historic first for New Jersey as lawmakers moved closer to making the sale and use of marijuana legal. But the fight for those on both sides of the legalization debate is not over.
What happens now is that Democrats who control the Legislature need to pass the bills related to legal weed in the Senate and Assembly, where it is not clear if supporters have enough votes to make that happen.
Those legislative leaders then need to win over Gov. Phil Murphy, a fellow Democrat who campaigned on legal weed but has remained decidedly non-committal to what the Legislature is doing. While lawmakers Monday were hearing from dozens of witnesses, Murphy stopped short of endorsing the legislation under consideration.
“I’m encouraged that it’s moving in the right direction, and it’s too early to tell as it relates to exactly the elements that ultimately are in there," he said. "We’ll see, but I'm happy to see the progress.”