Senate President Stephen Sweeney will look at a possible restriction on edible forms of marijuana in an attempt to win over legislators hesitant to vote for legal weed. Sweeney, D-Gloucester, raised the concerns about edibles Tuesday during an editorial board meeting with the Asbury Park Press. Several Democrats had expressed concerns about cannabis-infused edibles that, if […]
New Jersey
Legal weed bill for New Jersey may be revived later this year. ‘We’ll make one more run at it.’
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 […]
Big changes coming to N.J.’s medical marijuana program as Gov. Murphy signs expansion bill
New Jersey has added more than 30,000 patients to its medical marijuana program since Gov. Phil Murphy took office last January, but now the state will soon have a market better suited to serve those patients. Murphy on Tuesday signed a bill that overhauls the state’s medical marijuana program, following months of debate and negotiation with lawmakers that […]
NJ medical marijuana bill helps patients from other states. But there’s one big problem.
Just as thousands of tourists flock to the Jersey Shore for the Fourth of July, the New Jersey medical marijuana program is on the verge of opening its doors to out-of-state patients for the first time. Under the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act, visitors with medical marijuana cards from their home states would be able to carry […]
New Jersey medical marijuana expansion bill needs governor’s support to become law. Here’s what he wants.
Shortly before a vote Monday on a measure to vastly expand New Jersey’s medical marijuana program, state Assembly leadership put the bill on hold over fears Gov. Phil Murphy would veto it when it got to his desk. Better to negotiate with Murphy than send him something he’s just going to send back, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin said Monday afternoon. But […]
New Jersey Department of Health announces medical marijuana rule changes
The New Jersey Department of Health has announced amended medical marijuana rules that establish standards by which the department implements the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. The rule changes follow the department’s recommended regulatory actions in response to Gov. Phil Murphy’s Executive Order No. 6, which charged the department with reviewing all aspects of the […]
Marijuana Legalization Hits a Wall: First in New Jersey, Then in New York
In March, both states seemed days away from a landmark legalization deal. Now inertia is feeding doubts that it can happen this year. A push to legalize recreational marijuana in New York and New Jersey this year appears all but dead in both states, a dramatic fall for an effort that just over a month […]
N.J.’s marijuana bill nearly ‘dead.’ That means you may get to vote on making weed legal.
It’s now all but certain that New Jersey voters, and not lawmakers, will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana in the state, three legislative sources confirmed to NJ Advance Media late Thursday. A plan for the state Legislature to vote on a bill that would make recreational pot legal for those 21 and older in the Garden […]
Legal cannabis remains stalled in N.J. as politicians don’t know how to solve this big issue
As New Jersey’s leaders aim to pass a bill by the end of next month to legalize marijuana in the state, they’re grappling with a damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they-don’t dilemma that’s threatening their efforts. After more than a year of debate and wrangling, Gov. Phil Murphy and his fellow top Democrats remain a few votes short of the number they need […]
Phil Murphy sets May deadline for New Jersey legal marijuana vote, what’s next?
When Gov. Phil Murphy came into office, he vowed to legalize marijuana within 100 days. Now? It’s looking like weed may not be legalized until 500 days into Murphy’s tenure — at the earliest. The push for New Jersey marijuana legalization hit a roadblock last month when scheduled votes on the bill to legalize weed were […]
New Jersey Calls For Big Increase In Number Of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
New Jersey health officials on Monday recommended a huge increase in the number of medicinal marijuana dispensaries, arguing that the current handful of so-called Alternative Treatment Centers won’t be nearly enough to meet surging demand. The Department of Health said the state will need 50 to 90 of the centers in the next three years […]
Why the Plan to Legalize Marijuana in New Jersey Suddenly Unraveled
All the elements for swiftly legalizing marijuana in New Jersey seemed to be in place: A proposed bill was enthusiastically backed by Gov. Philip D. Murphy and had been endorsed by leaders of the Democratic-controlled State Legislature. Also, statewide polls showed support for the issue. Then the plans unraveled. Some lawmakers were unsure about how […]
Effort to Legalize Marijuana in New Jersey Collapses
A monthslong effort to legalize marijuana in New Jersey collapsed on Monday after Democrats were unable to muster enough support for the measure, derailing a central campaign pledge by Gov. Philip D. Murphy and leaving the future of the legalization movement in doubt. The failure in the Legislature marks one of the biggest setbacks for […]
Legal weed won’t happen right now in N.J. Lawmakers call off big vote.
Top state lawmakers have canceled a planned vote Monday on a bill that would legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in New Jersey, saying they simply haven’t gathered enough support in the state Senate. But they vowed to take up the measure — one of Gov. Phil Murphy’s signature proposals — at a […]
New Jersey scheduled to vote on legal marijuana today … but will it pass?
It all comes down to this. The state Legislature today is scheduled to make a decision on marijuana legalization, with the landmark bill to legalize, tax and regulate weed scheduled for votes in the Senate and Assembly. Either the legal weed bill will go up for a vote, putting New Jersey on track to legalize […]
Legal marijuana for N.J. takes a huge step forward. We now expect final votes next week.
New Jersey took another big step toward legal weed on Monday, as two state legislative committees approved a new bill that would legalize recreational marijuana in the Garden State, setting up historic votes in the full state Legislature next week. The committees took hours to vote after lawmakers wrangled over last-minute changes to the measure […]
NJ marijuana legalization: Phil Murphy, legislators announce legal weed deal. Is a vote next?
After more than a year of negotiations, Gov. Phil Murphy and legislative leaders have reached a final deal on New Jersey marijuana legalization. A vote to legalize weed in the Garden State could come later this month. “Legalizing adult-use marijuana is a monumental step to reducing disparities in our criminal justice system,” Murphy said in a […]
Expungement debate threatens to hold up marijuana legalization
Ask most supporters of marijuana legalization and they’ll tell you that, yes, it’s a new industry that will generate millions of dollars in sales taxes for the state. But, more importantly, according to Gov. Phil Murphy, “First and foremost this is a social justice issue.” And that means expungement — or setting aside criminal convictions […]
