The governors of Illinois and New Jersey may not be marijuana users — but they could sure use some.
Both Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy need their state legislatures to legalize cannabis this year. Otherwise, they won't be able to pay their bills.
Both Pritzker and Murphy are relying on revenue from licenses or taxes from legal cannabis to balance state budgets this fiscal year, a gamble that makes the two states immediately among the hottest battlegrounds in the ongoing move to legalize the drug in states around the country.
Illinois and New Jersey have both had budget difficulties in recent years. Illinois is the poster child for financial problems and operated without a spending plan for a period of time during the last administration. With tax increases being a difficult sell and massive spending obligations that include huge pension liabilities, the two states, which rank No. 49 and No. 50 in credit ratings in the U.S., are desperately looking for dollars in the couch cushions to plug budget holes.
Enter cannabis.