A New Jersey Assembly committee on Friday advanced a bill outlining non-criminal penalties for minors who possess marijuana, a bill Democratic lawmakers hope will appease Gov. Phil Murphy and get him to sign legalization and decriminalization bills already sitting on his desk.
Meanwhile, in a legislative twist, an opponent of legalization introduced a bill that supporters had long sought allowing residents to grow their own marijuana plants, assuming Murphy does sign the bill creating New Jersey's marijuana market.
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.
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.”
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.
Gov. Phil Murphy isn’t giving up hope for a marijuana cleanup bill after a previous effort stalled over objections launched by black and Latino legislators Friday that charged penalties for underage use in the now-defunct bill would negatively, and disproportionally, affect black and Latino youths.
“We knew this wouldn’t be easy, and I’m still optimistic we’ll figure something out,” Murphy said at an unrelated press conference Monday morning.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Nicholas Scutari has removed his name a bill to clean up the state’s yet-unsigned legal marijuana enabling legislation after objections from the black legislators, a move that will delay a vote by the full Senate on Monday.
“I stand with the Legislative Black Caucus and Senator (Ronald) Rice,” said Scutari, a 20-year supporter of marijuana legalization.
He said he agrees with Rice that proposed changes to the bill would lead to “more interactions for Black and Brown people with the police.”
The new bill makes a number of technical changes, including to allow persons convicted of marijuana and hashish offenses to expunge those offenses sooner and reduces penalties for underage possession.
Minors found in possession of marijuana would be subject only to “curbside warnings” or “stationhouse adjustments” from officers, policies aimed to change behavior without criminal or civil penalties.
The following can be attributed to ACLU-NJ Policy Director Sarah Fajardo:
“Cannabis arrests need to end, and they need to end now – we need legalization and decriminalization signed into law immediately. Today’s clean-up bill is part of that process, but we need to make sure that we do not lose sight of the ultimate goals of ending cannabis prohibition: to ensure that no one is ensnared unjustly in a criminal legal system marked by inequities, and that includes young people.
The governor’s office and Senate leaders are nearing an agreement that would remove criminal charges associated with underage marijuana possession and use, a deal that all sides hope will be the last one required before Gov. Phil Murphy signs the bills to legalize weed in New Jersey.
While negotiations are continuing, legislative sources said Monday that a deal appears likely to remove all penalties for minors — under 18 years old — found in possession of marijuana and levy fines on those between 18 and 21 years old, instead of bringing forth criminal charges.