Likewise, Murphy promised he would continue lobbying lawmakers to approve recreational marijuana and make it easier for people previously convicted of marijuana possession and other low-level, non-violent crimes have an easy route for expungement.
The Department of Health announced on Tuesday the first New Jersey death associated with the national vaping outbreak.
The death, involving an adult female from northern New Jersey, was reported to the department in August and mentioned as a report under investigation by Department of Health Acting Commissioner Judith Persichilli at the time Gov. Phil Murphy announced the creation of the Electronic Smoking Device Task Force on Sept. 12, 2019.
New Jersey
Last week, Politico reported Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney moved to ban the sale of all vaping products, including marijuana vape products.
That followed New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announcing a task force on vaping that is due to file recommendations in the next three weeks.
“The only safe alternative to smoking is not smoking. Period. Full stop,” Murphy said..
History of marijuana legalization in New Jersey
In New Jersey, only medical cannabis is legal yet. Though Governor Philip D. Murphy along with other Democrats tried several times to regulate recreational cannabis, they failed to gather enough support to pass the bill.
Efforts to enact a law clearing certain marijuana convictions stalled on Thursday morning when the state Senate pulled a vote on some of the changes Gov. Phil Murphy wanted to have in the cannabis expungement bill. Lawmakers instead reintroduced the bill yesterday afternoon, which according to Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd District, contains much of what Murphy wants.
Relief for those with minor marijuana convictions in New Jersey could be inching closer, as the state Senate is scheduled to vote Thursday on changes Gov. Phil Murphy made a bill that would allow people to have their records expunged.
But it’s not clear if the Senate is ready to concur with the governor’s proposals.
He gave an update on where the state stands on Marijuana legalization, and whether it will happen in the near future, what steps are needed to fix Newark's water crisis where lead pipes are contaminating the water in the city
Q: Why haven't Murphy and Sweeney decriminalized marijuana? (John B.)
The main reason the powers-that-be (including Sweeney) have come out against decriminalizing marijuana is that it would strengthen the black market. In a May editorial board meeting, Sweeney told the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey that he was "still trying to get (his) mind around it."
Historically marijuana has been the victim of bad press, scary stories about the social and moral impact it had on users. Once consider at gateway drug – the first step towards harder drugs – marijuana has recently received a reprieve. Part of its bad press came from the fact that to buy marijuana, you were often required to seek out dealers who often also dealt harder drugs.
But even this is something of an illusion since many marijuana dealers made up a cottage industry, supplementing their income by selling to people they knew at the local bar or even at their workplace.
Gov. Phil Murphy has vetoed a bill that would clear the records of thousands of people convicted of marijuana offenses, but he's offered an alternative plan.
Murphy conditionally vetoed Senate Bill No. 3205 this week, rejecting a plan to institute several major reforms to the state's expungement law and allow individuals convicted of certain marijuana offenses to petition a court to remove them from their criminal records.