A vote expected to come as early as March 25 could be a case of “light up” or “lights out” for a landmark bill that aims to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use across the state of New Jersey.
The state legislature is on the brink of this historic vote after the bill was approved by two legislative committees Monday, though local state Sens. Vin Gopal (D-11) and Declan O’Scanlon (R-13) are split on whether it has enough support pass.
If the bill does not pass, it could set the legalization effort back months.
“I don’t think it has the votes right now. I really have my doubts,” O’Scanlon said. “The bill definitely is not done yet, it needs considerably more work. If we’re going to do this, we need to definitively answer the concerns of residents.”
O’Scanlon said the bill still needs to appropriately address children’s access to marijuana, as well as those who are stopped by authorities while driving under the influence.
The tax rate and the transparency of the use of those tax revenues, he believes, also needs to be settled.
“The tax rate needs to be low enough in order to break the back of the black market dealers. If you don’t do that it’s not worth moving forward with legalization. And every penny of the money that is generated must be accounted for and needs to be committed to enhancing safety measures and drug recognition training in our municipalities,” O’Scanlon added.