Under New Jersey law, recreational marijuana sales are supposed to begin by mid-February. But the launch is running behind schedule.
The question of home cultivation is quickly turning into a dividing line between marijuana businesses and activists, with legal operators often more interested about protecting market share and minimizing home grows.
Cannabis activists, meanwhile, argue in favor of the right of medical marijuana patients to cultivate their own medicine.
New Jersey is unlikely to allow its marijuana users or medical marijuana patients to grow their own cannabis plants at home, the new president of the state Senate said this month.
Jo Anne Zito of the ‘Coalition for Medical Marijuana – New Jersey’ believes that the new year will be a good one for the state’s medical marijuana patients, equity, and also for social justice. She cited the departure of Senate President Stephen Sweeney, replaced by Senator Nick Scutari, as a reason to be optimistic for 2022. “There is cause for hope,” Zito told Insider NJ. “Scutari is a little bit better on cannabis. He seems to definitely want to remove the felony issue, maybe make it a misdemeanor.”
But as with so many things in New Jersey, there was a catch.
After a series of compromises, the law also would direct a portion of cannabis state revenue to local police departments to train more officers to identify impaired drivers — known as Drug Recognition Experts (DREs) — whose methods were being challenged for being scientifically unreliable.
Even as the decades-old methods were being challenged in court, the Legislature committed more funding to the programs anyway, a move seen by many as a way to win the support of law enforcement and additional legislators.
As a New Jerseyan seriously harmed by cannabis prohibition, I’m concerned with the fact that even though we legalized it, people in the state can still go to jail for growing it.
I’m also concerned that people who’ve been disadvantaged by prohibition may have a hard time affording legal or medicinal cannabis and feel that home grow is an equity provision that’s an integral part of legalization for social justice.
Top-ranking Democrats in the Senate are working to draft a bill on homegrown marijuana, but the legislation likely won’t allow New Jerseyans to grow their own cannabis, the New Jersey Globe has learned.
“The first topic was really the significance of the penalties for home growing right now. It’s like drug manufacturing, a serious felony charge,” said State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden). “You do a lot of years if you get caught growing your own marijuana right now, so there’s been just some initial discussions if maybe those penalties are too severe.”
Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), the bill’s lead sponsor, called Monday’s signing “a new era of social justice.”
“Today, we’re taking a monumental step forward to reduce racial disparities in our criminal justice system, while building a promising new industry and standing on the right side of history,” Murphy said.
The compromise bill on its way to the governor’s desk makes it so youth would be subject to a written warning if they’re caught with cannabis. lawmakers feel this should satisfy Murphy and motivate him to sign the implementation bill, as well as a separate piece of legislation concerning the decriminalization of possession, which could take place as early as Monday.
It’s been a rocky road to implementing marijuana regulations in New Jersey since voters approved a legalization referendum in November. But on Friday, a key Senate committee advanced a “clean up” bill designed to satisfy requests from Gov. Phil Murphy (D).
The legislature has already sent enabling legislation to the governor’s desk, but he’s yet to take action on it because he’s pushing for the inclusion of cannabis-related penalties for underage people. A newly revised bill to address the issue cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in a 6-2 vote, with one abstention.
Specifically, the new legislation would make underage possession or consumption of alcohol or marijuana subject to a written warning on the first violation. Second violations would carry a written warning as well, along with information for those 18 and older about community services, including counseling. Those under 18 would also get a written warning, along with their parents or guardians being notified. Third violations carry similar consequences, but with a written referral — instead of just information — for community services.