NJ marijuana legalization: Will Murphy’s Jan. 2019 deadline for legal weed become reality?

Gov. Phil Murphy campaigned last year on a pledge to allow adults to buy and consume marijuana. With his budget this week, the Democrat took his first formal step toward making that pledge a reality.



Murphy's budget proposal to lawmakers sets a Jan. 1, 2019, target for no-questions-asked marijuana sales to adults, and incorporates $80 million in proceeds from taxes on the drug into the state's expected revenue.

While the budget doesn't spell out details like how many dispensaries would sell marijuana or how they would be regulated, it does lay a marker for lawmakers to approve a bill legalizing marijuana by June 30. That's the deadline for passing a budget, and it would give state officials just six months to develop rules for selling marijuana to potentially hundreds of thousands of people.

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Murphy's move could focus the minds of lawmakers, who currently are considering more than a dozen marijuana-related bills, including three that would allow sales and possession of the drug, one that would reduce possession of small amounts to a civil offense like a parking ticket, and others that would expand medical access. The mishmash of bills— and Murphy's own reluctance to spell out details— has created a bureaucratic logjam around marijuana.



"We're going to get re-focused on this," said state Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, the author of one of the legalization bills. "If people are educated on the facts, I believe we'll win them over."



In his speech to lawmakers introducing his budget proposal, Murphy offered a full-throated reaffirmation of his campaign-trail argument for legal marijuana, while rebutting lawmakers who have proposed a more limited measure to decriminalize possession of small amounts of the drug.

"Legalization will allow us to reinvest directly in our communities— especially the urban neighborhoods hardest hit by the misguided War on Drugs— in their economic development, in health care and housing, child care and after-school programs, and other critical areas," Murphy said. "These investments will pay dividends far greater than the cost of mass incarceration."

Marijuana industry lobbyists were cheered by both his comments and the inclusion of marijuana in the budget.



"We've felt confident that Gov. Murphy would meet his campaign commitments," said Scott Rudder, president of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association. "Hearing him say that and attach a dollar figure was exactly what we were looking for."



The $80 million figure represents $60 million from sales of recreational marijuana to adults, plus $20 million from expanding New Jersey's medical marijuana program. Murphy's budget advisers said that to net $60 million from recreational sales by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, sales would start at the beginning of the year. Those sales would be taxed at a rate of 25 percent, in addition to the general sales tax that Murphy proposed raising to 7 percent. Murphy's budget advisers said they expect the state to net $300 million a year in marijuana tax revenue once the program is fully in place.



They offered no other specifics about projected sales, however, such as how many dispensaries would operate and how much marijuana would need to be sold to reach the revenue targets. Jennifer Sciortino, a spokeswoman for the Treasury department, did not respond to a question about the methodology behind the department's projections.



Before the state can realize a penny of revenue, Murphy and his allies need to persuade at least half of lawmakers to approve a legalization bill, which is not a sure thing. Both Republicans and some African American Democrats have lined up against legal marijuana, while many lawmakers said they're reserving judgment.

Among them is Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, who clapped when Murphy advocated legalizing marijuana during his budget speech. Coughlin is focused "solely on getting public input" rather than pushing a position, according to a statement from his office.

Legalized elsewhere

Eight states already have legalized sales to adults for non-medical purposes, all of them through voter-approved initiatives. In January, Vermont became the first state to establish a legal cannabis market through legislation, with sales beginning July 1. New Jersey would be the second state to do so.



Despite opposition in the Legislature, Bill Caruso, a veteran Trenton lobbyist who founded NJ United for Marijuana Reform, said he expects a legal marijuana bill to move in tandem with a budget deal. Other aspects of Murphy's budget, in particular increases on sales and income taxes, may find resistance from his own party along with opposition from Republicans.



On marijuana, however, Caruso said he expects many recalcitrant lawmakers to come around once they get answers to questions like how to enforce driving-while-intoxicated laws against marijuana users and the rights of employers to deny jobs to marijuana users. State lawmakers held their first-ever hearing on legal marijuana March 5, while three more sessions are scheduled through May.



"It's a lofty agenda, but it's certainly doable," Caruso said. "You are going to get Republicans on board. I don't see this as a hyper-partisan thing."

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Opponents say Murphy may have overplayed his hand by insisting on legal marijuana sales within a year of taking office. Instead, they said, Murphy should roll out an expansion of the medical program— which serves only 15,000 people— and consider measures to remove criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of the drug. Murphy already signed an executive order to broaden medical access but said during his budget speech that he backs full legalization, not decriminalization.



"There's a lot of opposition to legalizing recreational marijuana at this time and there's a long road to go," said Jeanette Hoffman, spokeswoman for New Jersey Responsible Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes legal sales. "I don't see this as inevitable."