A bill that would legalize recreational marijuana in New Jersey may not be dead after all, NJ Advance Media has learned.

Just three months ago, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney — New Jersey’s highest-ranking lawmaker — announced he was ending the roller-coaster efforts to pass the bill in the state Legislature because leaders couldn’t muster enough votes. Instead, Sweeney said, it would likely be up to the state’s voters to decide whether to make pot legal here, at the November 2020 ballot box.

But Garden State leaders privately believe there’s still hope, however slim, of convincing enough lawmakers to vote for the bill either during the “lame duck” session at the end of this year or in the first half of next year.

Sweeney, D-Gloucester, told NJ Advance Media on Wednesday: “I’m not going to give up trying.”

“I would love to do it,” Sweeney said. “We’ll make one more run at it.”

Passing pot through legislation, rather than through a voter referendum, has always been the preferred route for Gov. Phil Murphy and his fellow Democrats who lead the Legislature. [Read more at NJ.com]