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Hours after Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign vow to enact a bill legalizing recreational marijuana in New Jersey went up in smoke, the Democratic governor said Wednesday he had a “mixed reaction" and that he was still “trying to digest the pieces.”

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney announced earlier in the day he’s ending efforts for the state Legislature to pass the bill and instead will ask voters to decide in November 2020 whether to make pot legal.

It’s a blow in the ongoing, often-dramatic battle to make New Jersey the 11th state in the U.S. to legalize recreational marijuana. Legalizing pot was a major plank of Murphy’s 2017 campaign, and he and his fellow Democrats who lead the Legislature saw a voter referendum as a last resort.

Murphy said he did like that Sweeney, D-Gloucester, plans to move forward in the coming weeks on a pair of related bills — to expand the state’s medical marijuana program and to expunge the records of residents with past convictions of possessing small amounts of pot.

“But the devil will be in the details,” Murphy said at an unrelated public event at the East Windsor Senior Center.

“It’s hard to do it legislatively, I admit,” he added. “It’s always been a default to go to a referendum and ask the people.”

Murphy and top Democratic lawmakers spent months trying to secure enough votes to pass the bill that would make recreational marijuana legal for people 21 and older.

But with lawmakers from both parties voicing strong opposition, Sweeney, D-Gloucester, said they simply couldn’t find enough support in the state Senate.

Murphy stressed the medical bill is needed because “we’re gonna run out of product." And he said the expungement bill corresponds with how he came to support weed — “because of social justice.”

But the governor said he’s "not clear based on what was discussed this morning” about how the expungement bill will work.

“Are we expunging something in the past that is still illegal today?” Murphy asked.

Murphy said in March he’d have “no choice” but to expand medical pot himself if the Legislature didn’t pass the recreational marijuana bill by the end of May.

But on Wednesday, he said he’s not sure if he will move forward with that or just wait for lawmakers to pass the medical weed bill.

“To be determined,” Murphy said. “I’ve made no secret I’ve been holding back an enormous demand.”

Sweeney, who frequently feuds with Murphy, partially blamed the governor for the recreational bill failing. The Senate president said he asked Murphy not to announce he’d expand medical marijuana on its own for fear it would give some legislators a reason not to support the recreational measure. But Sweeney said the governor “didn’t listen.”

Murphy dismissed that criticism, saying the medical marijuana program in the state badly needed to be opened up.

“I reject being blamed for trying to help citizens out who have nowhere else to turn, whose lives are at stake or quality of life is a stake,” the governor said. “I wouldn’t call that blame. This is my responsibility as governor.”

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01.

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