Jeff Brown, the CRC’s executive director, testified for nearly two hours before the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate President Nick Scutari — the chief architect of legal cannabis efforts in the state. While Brown was joined by other top members of his staff, CRC commissioners were absent from the hearing. Chair Dianna Houenou had planned to attend but was “under the weather,” Brown said.
Lawmakers — both Democrats and Republicans — repeatedly asked Brown about regulations for setting up Workplace Impairment Recognition Experts, or WIREs, who are tasked with physically examining whether someone is high on cannabis in the workplace. New Jersey’s cannabis legalization law bars employers from taking disciplinary action against workers based solely on a positive test since the drug can be detected weeks after initial use. WIREs are required to confirm if an employee is high at the moment.
The CRC, which is tasked with creating regulations for the experts, has not done so yet.
“I would only ask you that the word expeditious come across in capital letters and you get this thing done like ASAP,” Sen. Fred Madden (D-Gloucester) said. “Get something out to us so that we can start providing the people some direction. It is extremely, extremely critical.”