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The news came on Tuesday — well, actually, Monday night. Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey’s top two state lawmakers, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney and state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, had reached a deal that would bring the issue of marijuana legalization back to the state Legislature.

For more discussion and debate. Again. More news about legalization without, you know, actually legalizing weed.

For those whose biggest question is “When can I legally smoke weed in New Jersey?” the news of more legislative debate is only slightly more welcome than that one friend who always wants to smoke but never wants to match. So, we’re here to help answer that question.

What if legalization happens soon?

Both Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and Coughlin, D-Middlesex, have their sights set on having the Legislature vote March 25 on legislation that would legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana for those over 21 in New Jersey.

That’s less than two weeks away, and we haven’t even seen the new bill yet. That means a lot of bill-reading and vote-wrangling in the coming days.

If those efforts pay off and the Legislature is able to pass the bill, and Murphy signs it, the possession and personal use of marijuana would be allowed in New Jersey once regulators have adopted rules and regulations for legalization. That’s expected to happen within six months of the bill passing. This timeline is based on previous legalization language, which we expect to be similar in the new bill.

It would still be illegal to smoke marijuana before the regulations are adopted and retail sales begin.

If the bill were to pass this month, people in New Jersey would likely be able to legally smoke by September, assuming some of the existing medical marijuana alternative treatment centers in the state are selling to the public by then. But they can only sell to the public if they have enough marijuana for patients and if they’ve been approved to do so by the state. No recreational dispensaries would be open by this September.

On Tuesday morning, Murphy said his best guess for when retail sales would start is “early next year,” though that seems optimistic.

What if there’s another delay?

Lawmakers are facing a shrinking window to legalize marijuana. If they can’t get something done in the next few weeks, legalization could get lost in the buzzsaw that is state budget negotiations, like what happened last year. State lawmakers have to pass a budget by June 30, or they shut down the state government.

So if Murphy hasn’t signed a bill by May, we’re probably looking until much later this year for legalization.

Several people close to the debate have said if legal weed isn’t passed by the budget deadline, voters would get to decide on legalization on the ballot this November.

If that happens or if legalization were to happen after the summer or the existing medical marijuana dispensaries are unable to sell to the public, you likely wouldn’t be able to legally smoke weed in New Jersey until 2020 at the earliest.

Whether you’ll have to wait that long will become clearer in the next couple of weeks.

Payton Guion may be reached at PGuion@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PaytonGuion.

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