But that'll only happen if the legislature passes it into law. And right now, even Scutari acknowledges he doesn't have the votes.
"There’s a lot of uncommitted. A few yesses. A few nos. And there’s dozens of uncommitted," he said. It's hard to nail down how much support he has, but legislators in Trenton suggest he’s about 5 votes short in the Senate and as much as 10 in the Assembly. Among the issues they’re wrestling with is how many marijuana stores to allow in the state, how much to tax it, and whether someone with a criminal background can be involved in a marijuana business.
A recent poll found that 59 percent of New Jerseyans support the legalization of small amounts of pot for recreational use. That's up from four years ago, when it was 48 percent. But Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, says citizens are not clamoring for legalization, so the legislature is under no real pressure to pass it.
Murray said another challenge to passing a weed bill is a group of legislators from heavily black and Latino districts who will never support it.
"Their fear is that legalizing marijuana and the sale of marijuana could spill out onto the streets and lead to other proliferation of drug crimes that would hit their community harder than it would other communities," Murray said.
An even bigger problem may be Democratic legislators who are using the marijuana bill as leverage to get the governor to address their own priorities. Senate President Stephen Sweeney has opposed the governor’s proposal to tax millionaires and his school funding bill — and he’s used his power in the Senate to slow down confirmation of Murphy’s cabinet appointments.
Murray said legislators also want the governor to address pensions. And, until he does, they’re not likely to give in on marijuana. "It’s a bargaining chip at the end of the day," he said.