NEW JERSEY – Gov. Phil Murphy has changed course, saying he now backs marijuana decriminalization since lawmakers have tried – and failed – to legalize the drug.

Murphy said decriminalization of adult-use marijuana "cannot be our long-term solution, but we now must turn to it for critical short-term relief while we await a ballot measure on legalization next November." Murphy had previously opposed decriminalization, saying it would essentially legalize the "black market" of illegal drug-dealing.

But maintaining a status quo, Murphy said, that sees roughly 600 individuals, disproportionately people of color, arrested in New Jersey every week for low-level drug offenses is "wholly unacceptable." "Although I remain disappointed in the Legislature's inability to legislatively legalize adult-use marijuana, I am optimistic that the people of New Jersey, who overwhelmingly support legalization, will vote to do so," he said. And, when they do, we will take a critical and long overdue step for real criminal justice reform."



His statement on Tuesday came a week after lawmakers announced that they will go directly to the voters to decide whether to legalize marijuana in 2020. After a last-ditch attempt to get legislative approval, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Sen. Nicholas Scutari, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said they will seek voter approval of a constitutional amendment to legalize adult-use marijuana in New Jersey.

The initiative, they said, "will bring cannabis out of the underground so that it can be controlled to ensure a safe product, strictly regulated to limit use to adults and have sales subjected to the sales tax."



"We will have the Legislature vote on the plan during the current legislative session and expect the proposal to be on the ballot in 2020, when voter turnout will be maximized for the national election," they said. "We are confident it will be approved by the Senate, the Assembly and the voters."