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A state lawmaker who visited Colorado and saw how the first state to sell legal recreational cannabis deals with motorists driving under the influence wants to create a marijuana enforcement division under the state Attorney General’s Office.
Assemblywoman Shanique Speight (D-Essex) said she wants the new division to compile data to give law enforcement officers some clarity on the state’s cannabis law, which she said has left them confused over when they can and can’t charge drivers with a marijuana offense.
Senator Declan O’Scanlon introduced legislation that would reinstate penalties for underage possession and consumption of alcohol and cannabis.
Ascend Wellness Holdings Inc., which recently opened recreational sales to the public at its cannabis dispensary in Montclair, will be holding an expungement clinic in the township on Saturday, Oct. 1.
Ascend Wellness is planning to host a week of events across the U.S. that offer expungement and other legal services to formerly incarcerated people, helping them to clear their records of marijuana-related offenses. The clinics will assist people with the expungement process and record sealing, and offer information about other resources such as housing and mental health support.
Do you want to wipe cannabis offenses off your record, employ someone who has expunged cannabis charges, or simply learn more about cannabis law — all while enjoying food and wine from local businesses?
Organizations and businesses from Maplewood and South Orange will participate Wednesday in an "Social Equity and Expungement Event" with a cannabis attorney who'll give consultations.
When New Jersey legalized possession of cannabis for recreational use, it didn’t permit the unlicensed selling of the drug.
But it did require police to issue warnings to small-time dealers for a first offense instead of arresting them. Since then, data obtained from the state Judiciary shows the number of people arrested for selling small amounts of cannabis has dropped from the thousands to fewer than three dozen.
The data also shows there have been relatively few arrests for possessing more cannabis than is permitted under state law.
Pennsylvanians with minor, nonviolent marijuana criminal convictions could be pardoned beginning Thursday in a period until the end of the month under a joint effort from Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.
The so-called "one-time, large-scale pardon effort" will allow anyone who has been convicted of possession of marijuana or small amount of personal use to apply. There is no limit for the age of conviction.
The application is free, and entirely online.
You CAN still get arrested for marijuana possession and distribution
Six ounces is, by any estimation, a lot of weed.
If you’re found in possession of more than 6 ounces of pot, you could be arrested and charged with fourth-degree marijuana possession and face up to 18 months in prison and a $25,000 fine.
And remember: Selling marijuana is only considered legal if it’s done by a licensed dispensary operator.
With a legal market for recreational marijuana poised to launch in the Garden State, multiple groups are calling on Gov. Phil Murphy to go even further with loosening restrictions related to cannabis.
"At a time where we can be reinvesting in communities, fighting a global pandemic, we're spending millions of dollars in the state of New Jersey to incarcerate people on offenses for something that is now legal," Sarah Gersten, executive director and general counsel at Last Prisoner Project, told New Jersey 101.5.
The New Jersey Courts launched an awareness campaign last week to notify people if they had prior convictions for low-level offenses involving marijuana or hashish that those convictions were wiped from their records.
Once a case has been expunged, a person no longer needs to disclose their former conviction on applications for jobs, housing, or educational programs.
In the first quarter of 2021, before legalization took effect, New York City saw 163 arrests for marijuana possession. Police arrested people both for holding quantities of marijuana that were decriminalized back in 2019 (under two ounces), and for quantities that were over the decriminalization limit. (When Cuomo signed a bill to decriminalize marijuana possession in July 2019, it meant that anyone caught with up to two ounces could be given a fine of up to $200 and not arrested.)
