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As June burned to a close, lawmakers in Trenton were still scrambling to pass a budget by the end of the month and avoid a government shutdown. Surprisingly absent from negotiations was one of the main platforms on which Gov. Phil Murphy ran for office: marijuana legalization.
Despite support from top lawmakers, marijuana reform couldn’t get done before the June 30 budget deadline. It’s now been delayed until at least later this summer.
So, with a governor and legislative leaders who have said they support marijuana legalization, why has no real action been taken on legal weed?
1. Legal weed has been a tough sell
Despite clear support for legal weed from Murphy, not all state leaders agree. New Jersey Cannabis Insider has been tracking votes for recreational marijuana and previously reported that there weren’t enough in the Legislature to legalize weed.
The majority of lawmakers haven’t publicly said whether they’d support recreational marijuana, and many could still vote in favor, but it’s far from a sure thing.
On the local level, far more municipalities have banned marijuana than have said they’d welcome it within their borders. More than 20 towns have taken steps to prevent marijuana businesses from opening, while just three towns have said they want the industry.
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Is legal weed a social justice issue? An economic issue? How much should it be taxed? How many growers and stores should Jersey have?
It all depends on who you ask and when you ask them.
Advocates on all sides of the marijuana debate have been pushing for a variety of policies. Some industry groups want hundreds of dispensaries, while the existing medical dispensaries are interested in limiting the market.
At the same time, Scott Rudder, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, talks less about the number of growers and more about the total canopy, or the amount of space dedicated to marijuana cultivation.
“When discussions started being had, there were so many voices that had credible arguments,” said Daniel McKillop, an attorney with Scarinci Hollenbeck, who advises clients in the cannabis industry. “End of June was always going to be a pretty optimistic goal.”
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Last last month, NJ Advance Media reported that Scutari was planning to introduce a bill that combined a medical marijuana expansion with a plan for recreational marijuana. At the time, state Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, said that he would never support such a bill.
Undeterred, Scutari introduced the combined bill earlier this month. It went nowhere.
Since Scutari introduced that bill he and Vitale have been unable to compromise on either recreational or medical marijuana expansion.
The above factors all contributed to delays that affected marijuana reform in New Jersey, but perhaps the main reason June ended without legal weed is that it just didn’t have to be done by the end of the month.
Some lawmakers wanted to get it done by June 30 since that is the deadline for the Legislature to pass a budget, but there was no other reason why a bill had to be signed by that date.
Rudder, Houenou and dozens of other advocates have said it’s much more important to get marijuana reform right than to get it done quickly.
Credit: www.nj.com
Credit:Â www.nj.com
