As NJ.com explained, the bill that Murphy signed only a couple weeks ago “removed all criminal penalties and fines for such offenses, replacing them with escalating warnings.” “Under that, the first warning will go to the juvenile only, the second to a parent and the third as a referral to drug education or treatment programs,” the website reported.
Senator Declan O’Scanlon and Senator Anthony M. Bucco are taking the lead to fix some of the most obvious problems with the new cannabis law passed by the Trenton Democrats.
The Senate Republican colleagues will introduce legislation that would restore liability protections for police during a marijuana-related interaction with underage youths and another to repeal a new law prohibiting law enforcement from notifying parents if their child is caught possessing alcohol or marijuana.
Denville Town Council members and Mayor Thomas Andes discussed during the council's Feb 16 meeting the issue of odor emanating from TerrAscend, a facility that cultivates medical marijuana in neighboring Boonton Township. Denville residents have been complaining about a foul smell since the facility's establishment in the summer of 2020.
“With the assistance of Senator Tony Bucco, Denville Township was able to have...our third meeting on February 9 with New Jersey Department of Health and New Jersey Department of Environmental Officials,” said Andes.
Attorney General Gurbir Grewal told lawmakers legalization would pose challenges for law enforcement.
“How do we assess drugged driving? What’s the metric for it? Do we have enough drug recognition experts to do this job? Do we have to train up our officers on field sobriety testing procedures? Do we have to have more education and prevention efforts?
Grewal says law enforcement is also trying to understand how police dogs will operate because they’re not trained to differentiate between marijuana and other drugs.