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."
NJTV News reports on the legislative struggles to get recreational marijuana legalized in the Garden State, including the criminal justice system implications. NJ lawmakers recently called off a vote to legalize adult-use recreational marijuana that would have also expunged the records of thousands of residents convicted of possession. At the same time, law enforcement concerns remain over how drugged driving will be detected.
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.
Entrepreneurs banking on NJ Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign promise to legalize marijuana in the Garden State are starting to feel burned.
Shergoh Alkilani, a real estate developer based in Cliffside Park, said he’s invested roughly $1 million in a pot manufacturing facility in Bergen County — with nothing to show for it and no sense of when it might open, if ever.
With word coming from Trenton that lawmakers and Gov. Phil Murphy might try again this year to legalize recreational marijuana, state Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso (R-13) this week restated her opposition to the idea.
“I’ve been pretty vocal about it,” she said. “I’m a ‘no’ on the legalization of marijuana.”
Marijuana legalization also includes financial benefits to society from taxes and cost avoidance. Property taxes may well go down when the state no longer has to endure the expense of arresting 34,000 residents each year, mostly for possessing small amounts of marijuana. A robust marijuana industry contributes to the state in many ways.
Michael McQueeney, co-chairman of Genova Burns' cannabis practice group in Newark, joined Cheddar to discuss why the Garden State hasn't been able to turn green.
Over the past six months, cannabis legislation in New Jersey has been a hotly debated topic. Since the promise of Murphy’s campaign to legalize, the debates and negotiations have not stopped among legislators. Since our March update, a lot has changed.
How does this work in New Jersey?
The last iteration of the recreational marijuana legalization bill included a flat tax rate on cultivators growing the plant of $42 tax per ounce of marijuana.
The Legislature completed a fiscal impact analysis for an early version of the bill, but it doesn't calculate the costs for the latest proposal.
In an attempt to win enough votes to pass a marijuana legalization bill, Sweeney said he was "actually looking at maybe restricting certain (edible) ones."
"Edibles, we have to look at," Sweeney said. "Gummy bears? Kids can pick up a gummy bear. The thing we learned in Colorado (where recreational marijuana is legal) is about packaging. You have to make it unattractive to children.