Now that it appears New Jersey won’t be legalizing marijuana until at least after November 2020, state legislators might move this week to essentially decriminalize possession of small amounts of the drug.
NJ.com reports that a bill to expunge the records of people with cannabis offenses would reduce the penalties for anyone caught with up to two ounces of marijuana to a civil citation carrying a $50 fine.
Other cannabis-related offenses would remain as criminal charges but carry reduced penalties, according to the report.
A surprise bill that would decriminalize marijuana possession in New Jersey died in one committee early Monday. Then, like a phoenix emerging from a skunky ashtray, it came back a few hours later in another.
The controversial bill, NJ A5325 (18R), was introduced to considerable fanfare Friday evening as an alternative to abandoned legislation that would have legalized cannabis for recreational use.
The Assembly version of the expungement legislation would allow individuals with prior convictions for using, possessing or distributing cannabis to petition the courts to get their records cleared. A version of the expungement legislation that began circulating on Friday had decriminalization language attached to it, but the Assembly Judiciary Committee stripped the provision from the bill during its own consideration and pulled the expungement legislation from its agenda entirely.
Senator Ronald L. Rice today released the following statement regarding Senate President Steve Sweeney’s announcement to move forward with legislation that will expunge marijuana-related criminal records and expand New Jersey’s medical marijuana program.
Senator Ronald L. Rice today released copies of a letter sent to Governor Phil Murphy, Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney (D-3) and Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin (D-19) addressing what he described as unrealistic budget projections based on a flawed bundle of marijuana legislation that has stalled in the state Legislature.
Yes We Cannabis!
Gurbir Grewal wants to reform NJ’s marijuana laws. He was set to issue new prosecution guidelines, a sort of decrim-light, when Jersey City prosecutor Jake Hudnut scooped him.
That delighted cannabis activists but frustrated the Attorney General who maintains the Jersey City model, no matter how instinctively pleasing to reformers, actually diminishes the discretion of law enforcement.
Let's first differentiate two actions states have taken with respect to marijuana. Decriminalization refers to the relaxation of criminal penalties associated with personal marijuana use. Oregon was the first state to decriminalize marijuana in 1973. The state imposed just a $100 fine for possession of up to an ounce.
Over the next 15 years following Oregon's legal change, at least a dozen other states decriminalized marijuana. But decriminalization merely lowered or removed the sting from anti-marijuana laws. Manufacturing and selling marijuana remained illegal.
The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) appeared to signal his support for marijuana decriminalization on Friday.
Appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb discussed the agency’s support for scientific research into cannabis, shared thoughts about recreational marijuana use and offered his perspective on the state of federal marijuana laws.
How much longer will this crazy patchwork of enforcement policies and legalization expectations continue? If New Jersey lawmakers can’t figure out what to do about pot, we have a suggestion: Decriminalize now, work out the rest later.
That shouldn’t be this hard.
New Jersey policymakers already are loosening restrictions on marijuana for medical use and could make it much easier for adults to buy the drug even without a medical reason. The state's more permissive approach to a drug that's technically still illegal under federal law is proceeding on three tracks.