Recreational marijuana would be legalized and the medical cannabis program would be expanded under new legislation being introduced in New Jersey.
Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney and state Sen. Nicholas Scutari announced the new bills Friday.
The legislation comes as Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy pushes for legalizing recreational pot as part of a campaign promise. His fiscal year 2019 budget assumes marijuana will be legalized and banks on $60 million in revenues.
Woodcliff Lake is the latest Bergen County town to ban the sale of marijuana within its limits, in an attempt to circumvent a proposed state bill that, if passed, would legalize the drug in New Jersey.
The prohibitions, adopted unanimously by the Borough Council this week, bar businesses from selling, distributing, cultivating, growing or facilitating the sale or use of both recreational and medical marijuana. The sale of related paraphernalia is also banned.
The state senator leading the charge on legal weed in New Jersey is expected to introduce a new plan that would bring recreational marijuana to the state while expanding the medical marijuana program, according to multiple sources in New Jersey's marijuana industry.
State Sen. Nicholas Scutari on Thursday is unveiling his plan, a combined bill that aims to address the two biggest marijuana-related issues in New Jersey: an expansion of medical marijuana and full legalization of weed for adults.
This is the first bill introduced that combines the two efforts.
Township Council members haven't given up on their weed ban plan.
A little over a month after the council voted unanimously to shelve a proposal to ban recreational marijuana sales, a majority of the seven-member governing body seems prepared to vote "yes" if a similar measure is reintroduced.
"I don't see anything good about allowing the sale of marijuana," Council President Brian Kubiel said. "We're looking at banning it. If new information comes out, we can certainly repeal it. We need to take a stand."
RT 40: “What did you learn from your Nevada trip? [about legal cannabis]”
MFG: “Socially, [reform] decriminalized cannabis. That’s important for any urban center because there are so many lives that have been destroyed because they have gotten some kind of blemish for having marijuana.”
RT 40: “Should the licenses be given out in a way that reflects disproportionate incarceration rates for African-Americans for marijuana-related offenses?”
Depending on who you talk to, you'll hear that marijuana can cure everything from a hangnail to a broken state budget.
While some medicinal benefits of marijuana are now becoming widely accepted, the social benefits aren't quite as clear.
Legal weed has given a boost to budgets in states like Colorado, but whether legalization provides tangible support to the communities disproportionately affected by marijuana prohibition remains a heated debate.
Many in New Jersey feel that legalization will hurt the state, with poor communities more heavily impacted.
Scott Rudder, president of the New Jersey Cannabusiness Association is also expecting the list of qualifying conditions for medicinal cannabis use to expand. Rudders believe lawmakers are looking to finalize new cannabis regulations soon because the state budget must be approved by the end of June. Lawmakers are already counting on approximately $80 million in tax revenues for the next fiscal year which starts on July 1.
Although a robust market is eventually expected, Rudder feels that legal cannabis will have a slow start in New Jersey.
Trailblazing states like Colorado and Washington learned on the fly about the regulation of the marijuana industry. The message from one policy expert to New Jersey: learn from their missteps and learn now.
John Carnevale, who worked on policy at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under three administrations, mapped out the necessary regulative landscape for what appears to be an inevitable industry in New Jersey. And setting it up is no mean task, especially given the lack of research on marijuana and public health and safety issues.
The Township has joined a handful of Bergen County towns in banning marijuana sales ahead of a state bill that, if passed, would legalize the drug in New Jersey.
Mahwah's prohibitions , adopted unanimously by the Township Council on Thursday, will block all marijuana establishments from opening in Mahwah, including dispensaries, cultivation facilities and manufacturing plants. It does not apply to sales of prescribed medical marijuana, which is legal in New Jersey.
When Al Harrington was growing up in Orange, he had aunts and uncles who smoked weed, something he says they were shamed for.
As a result, he was "always scared to touch it," Harrington said in a Vice News segment published in May. See the video below. (Warning: It contains explicit language.)
But after a 16-year NBA career, Harrington now not only touches marijuana, he's invested $5 million in a cannabis company that he hopes can help people out West -- where his products are currently sold -- and in his former neighborhood.