New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has set a deadline for Friday to reach an agreement with legislative leaders on cannabis legalization and decriminalization legislation that was sent to his desk last month.
Murphy has objected to inconsistent language in both bills that eliminated penalties for underage individuals caught in possession of the drug. If the administration hasn’t brokered a compromise on a clean-up bill before Friday, the governor plans to conditionally veto the measure.
t’s time to legalize marijuana consumption in Delaware, said state Auditor Kathy McGuiness, who touted a supposed economic benefit of more than $43 million in tax revenue to Delaware if recreational sales are allowed.
In an 11-page report released Monday, Ms. McGuiness outlined issues and background surrounding potential legalization, noting that 15 states allow recreational sales of marijuana, and several more are considering it.
We’re about two weeks from the deadline for Gov. Murphy to act on the weed legalization and decriminalization bills on his desk, and negotiations to date haven’t gotten far.
Feb. 8 is the drop dead date, as that’s the first quorum in the Assembly — where both bills originated — after the bill has been on Murphy’s desk for 45 days.
The administration has held conference calls with lawmakers, most recently the Assembly’s Black members. But they haven’t been fruitful.
Gov. Phil Murphy reiterated his reasoning as to why the legal status of marijuana remains in limbo Wednesday afternoon. He did not offer any new information.
“There are two principles that have guided us on this,” Murphy said. “No. 1: The last thing any of us wants is our kids getting tied up in the criminal justice system, especially kids of color. Secondly, the voters voted to legalize adult-use marijuana. It said it right on the referendum: It’s 21 or up.
“Getting both those principles respected is not an easy process.”
Every cannabis entrepreneur has their reasons for getting into the space. Some of them simply love the plant while others see it as a cash grab.
And then you have seasoned entrepreneurs like Bershan Shaw who want to make a difference in cannabis because they know this plant saves lives.
Shaw experienced it firsthand as a two-time breast cancer survivor (stage II and then stage IV), who turned to cannabis in her greatest time of need.
The language of the proposal specifically stated that the “growth, cultivation, processing, manufacturing, preparing, packaging, transferring, and retail purchasing and consumption of cannabis…shall be lawful.”
The catch is that the voter-approved amendment also said these activities shall also be “subject to regulation by the Cannabis Regulatory Commission” and the commission’s “regulatory authority concerning legalized cannabis shall be authorized by law enacted by the Legislature.”
That’s according to a recent analysis of crime report data in Newark by Justin Leiby, an associate professor of accountancy at the University of Illinois.
The Newark Police Department made a total of 57 marijuana-related arrests in the first 20 days of this year, compared to 63 arrests made for the same period in 2020. But more notably, that trend is driven by a spike in arrests for simple possession alone, which grew from 39 last year to 48 this year—a 23 percent increase.
Though legislators soundly sent legalization and decriminalization bills to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk last month, the governor has yet to sign it, concerned over a lack of penalties for underage use.
The two camps reached an agreement on a cleanup bill that would limit youth enforcement to curbside warnings and stationhouse adjustments — essentially talks with police officers — but that measure died when Senate sponsors pulled their support after members of the Legislative Black Caucus warned the bill would negatively impact youths in Black and Brown communities.
The New Jersey legislature passed the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act in December, 2020 (NJ A21) that would establish a licensing system with six classes of licenses to cultivate and distribute cannabis. While the bill would prioritize licenses in “impact zones,” meaning zones with high unemployment and a history of cannabis-related offenses, the bill was criticized for limiting the availability of licenses to 37 licenses total over the next two years for both medical and recreational cultivators.
About two-thirds of Garden State voters approved a ballot measure in November to legalize recreational use of marijuana for residents 21 years old or older.
Both houses of the legislature signed off on the constitutional amendment last month.
But Murphy balked at signing the new law on Jan. 1, claiming the measure lacks language on enforcement details for underage marijuana users, according to NJ.com.