NEPTUNE - The push to legalize marijuana in New Jersey is alive and well — even if its future in the Legislature is uncertain.

In a wide-ranging editorial board meeting with the Asbury Park Press, Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, spoke about the ill-fated attempt to legalize weed in March and the possibility of the bill coming up for a vote later this year.

Sweeney also spoke to the Press about the expanded New Jersey medical marijuana program and the possibility of restricting cannabis-infused edibles. Watch Sweeney explain his concerns with marijuana edibles in a video at the top of the page.

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Question: What’s the possibility of a marijuana legalization bill coming up for a vote in November?

Sweeney: I have to see. When I said we weren’t going to post it for a vote and would go to a ballot initiative, we had gone from 15 votes to 19 votes. I was never at 21 (votes needed to pass a bill in the Senate). But we took so much time trying to get a bill that we agreed to, that we just didn’t leave a lot of time to sit down and work things out with members.

Q: What are the biggest reservations from your members who wouldn't support marijuana legalization?

Sweeney: One of the things that really hurt us was that 5 pound issue. (The legal weed bill, as written, allowed offenders to expunge previous charges of possession of up to 5 pounds of marijuana.) That was really something that made a lot of caucus members who were "yes" votes became "no’s." We’re looking at possibly addressing that in a different piece of legislation.

A lot of people have strong beliefs. I believe it’s generational. There are some pieces of legislation where you can’t twist an arm or trade a votebecause the person is morally committed. It’s their belief, and it’s not fair to try and get someone not to stick with what they believe.

But with some of them, it’s just the way the legislation is written or the way it looks. The biggest problem I have is, if I move it this way, I lose three votes over here. If I move it that way, I lose three votes over there. It’s like Whac-a-Mole. It just keeps popping up, but that’s what legislation is. It takes time. Marijuana is just a tough one. If it was easy, almost every state would have done it legislatively instead of through a constitutional amendment.

Q: How is this playing with the ballot initiative? Is work being done on the ballot question?

Sweeney: We’ve been working on it since we announced it. My staff has been drafting one which we’ll share with the Assembly because we’re working together. This is one issue where the governor, the speaker and myself all were supportive of doing legalization through legislation. But if we don’t get it though legislation, then the ballot is the best place for it to go, which is where every state in the country except two did it.

Q: You seem very confident that if this goes to the ballot, it will pass. A Fairleigh Dickinson University poll from last year found that, when people were given options to poll on legalization (including decriminalization), only 42 percent supported full legalization. I guess it all depends on the wording of the ballot question.

Sweeney: It depends on the people voting. This election, we’re projecting a 21 percent turnout and it’s a much more conservative vote. So it wouldn’t pass this year. But in a presidential race in this state, where Democrats will turn out in a large number because of (President Donald) Trump, there’s not a doubt in my mind that it would pass.

Q: Are you confident you’ll be able to pass a bill before our neighboring states?

Sweeney: Maybe not a bill, but we’ll pass a constitutional amendment before our neighbors, because I don’t think they’re going to have more success than we’ve had. When New York announced it, there was big fanfare. I told my colleagues over there that it's a lot harder than you think because I thought we were going to do it easily.

I believe there were 21 votes, but we just couldn’t get the right formula. Sen. (Ron) Rice has always been against it, but some members legitimately could have been gotten for votes if their concerns were addressed. Now that we have a little more time and everyone knows the bill and has had a chance to understand it and see how they feel about it, we can go back and talk to everybody. I can ask, “What do I need to do?”

Q: Why were those changes to the medical bill made? The version that was signed into law was pretty different from the original one.

Sweeney: A lot of the things that we put in the marijuana bill we put into the medical one — like the Cannabis Regulatory Commission. We wanted to get as many of the things we agreed to from the legal marijuana bill into the medical one, just to get as much done as we can.

We’re not getting up to legalization, but we have a medical industry that’s going to expand and I honestly believe that once we legalize it, medical will slowly go away. If you can get it without a doctor’s note and without having to go to the doctor, that’s where you go.

And listen, if we do a ballot initiative? I personally would like to keep the sales tax where it is now (6.625 percent), and if you have to provide a couple of (transfer tax) points for the towns.

Originally, I was at 10 percent — and I think that’s the right number. Every state that has gone high with the tax has seen the black market really expand. People say, “why would I buy it from you when I can buy it from the guy I’ve always bought it from, and the worst thing I’ll get is a ticket that’s cheaper than the tax?”

Q: How do you try to make the medical program cheaper for patients? There’s still talk that prices at the dispensaries are out of control and doctors, despite moving from quarterly to annual authorizations, they’re just charging four times the price.

Sweeney: First, we make sure the tax goes away. I don’t believe in taxing it. We don’t tax medications now. And honestly, supply should bring the cost down, too. More competition will bring the cost down — that’s the medical expansion.

But really the way you make it more affordable is to legalize it. Because once it’s legalized, it will naturally adjust itself. Why would you go to the doctor’s office if you already know what works for you?

Q: Is there any chance we’ll ever see home grow?

Sweeney: No. I don’t want everybody growing it in their houses. I want to try to grow and regulate the system. If everyone’s growing it in their house, you’re just creating another market. And I know that’s not a popular answer.

Q: There are a lot of unanswered questions about health effects. Do you minimize those findings that there are negative effects associated with marijuana use?

Sweeney: People have been using marijuana on a regular basis in an unregulated system. You have situations where, for a period of time, people were buying marijuana that was laced with stuff and doing crazy things.

Personally, I tried it once, I ate a pizza and went to sleep. I was young and it just wasn’t for me.

I think alcohol actually has more health effects than marijuana.

Q: But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re improving things by now having something else that also has potentially negative effects.

Sweeney: We’ve lost that war. We fought that war for 70 years and lost. Money should be invested heavily in young people not using drugs. That’s critically important. But we lost the war on marijuana, and alcohol is worse and causes more problems. And that’s legal.

So I think regulating and controlling it — not for tax purposes but to ensure that people are consuming a product that’s safe — is a hell of a lot more important.

Now edibles, we have to look at. Gummy bears? Kids can pick up a gummy bear. The thing we learned in Colorado is about packaging. You have to make it unattractive to children. It’s not like a cereal box that’s all colorful with cartoon characters. It has to be very bland with nothing that makes someone say “That looks really cool, I want to try it.”

Edibles would be legal, but I’m actually looking at maybe restricting certain ones. Some of my members had concerns about it during our debate and discussion. Since we weren’t doing it, there was no reason to bring it up. But that was one of the concerns when we were trying to get votes and I don’t necessarily think they’re wrong.

I’m going to look at all the different products of edibles but I can tell you right now that gummy bears, for me, is one where I absolutely would say no. For one reason: Kids see that. They're colorful. Kids eat gummy bears all the time. If you want to consume marijuana, I don’t think you need gummy bears. There’s other ways of ingesting marijuana.

Q: The state where that was really a problem as Colorado and they addressed that with labeling laws. Would that not be enough here? [Editor's note: The state of Colorado also passed a law prohibiting marijuana edibles shaped like people, animals, cartoon characters or fruits]

Sweeney: I don’t know. As we try to go forward and try to get votes to pass it, I know that edibles is one of the issues with my caucus.

Q: You say your stance on home grow is an unpopular opinion, but I think this would be one, too. In other states, edible use is almost on par with vaping and smoked flower.

Sweeney: I’m not saying you can’t get baked goods and those other things. We’re just talking about things that would be attractive to children. That’s the concern I heard that from our members.

If I’m going to try to get votes to pass marijuana … it hasn’t settled well with me because I want to get it done.

Q: But wouldn’t a brownie or a cookie be just as marketable to kids?

Sweeney: Not if you put it in a package that’s not attractive at all. My members are afraid if you left one around and a kid said, “oh, that’s a brownie.” Those are things we can’t ignore. I’m not talking about doing away with edibles. I’m talking about looking at them because I’ve heard it from my membership.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Mike Davis writes about the seemingly never-ending push to legalize marijuana in New Jersey, including the effects it would have on the economy, the black market and regular people. No, he can't tell you where to buy illegal drugs. Contact him at 732-643-4223, mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.