The truth is New Jersey should have legalized recreational marijuana a long time ago. Gov. Phil Murphy said during his campaign that he was going to make legalization one of his top priorities during his first 100 days in office. It was a move that Senate President Stephen Sweeney believed could be squared up by April of last year, allowing recreational sales to begin in 2019.
But lawmakers were never able to come to terms.
The Garden State’s marijuana legalization endeavors became more about social and criminal justice than anything else. There was also a colossal dispute over taxes between lawmakers and Murphy’s office. And then, just when it seemed that lawmakers were making some ground – BOOM – legal weed just hit a wall. Now, the final word on the matter is that Sweeney has given up on trying to get a marijuana legalization measure passed through legislative chambers. He has since decided that the best course of action at this point is to put it in front of the voters in the 2020 election.
That might be the state’s best shot.
Gov. Murphy, who worked with legislative controls for months to secure enough votes to get legal weed enacted, says giving the issue to the voting public has always been part of the backup plan. “The devil will be in the details,” Murphy told reporters last week following Sweeney’s announcement of the dead pot bill. “It’s hard to do it legislatively, I admit. It’s always been a default to go to a referendum and ask the people.”