NJ marijuana legalization: New Jersey quietly takes first steps to decriminalize weed

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TRENTON - New Jersey has quietly taken the first steps toward decriminalizing marijuana, at least for the rest of the summer.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal on Tuesday asked municipal prosecutors across the state to adjourn all marijuana offenses until Sept. 4. The respite is to allow his office time to develop "appropriate guidance" for handling such cases, with the help of a working group that includes prosecutors and others.

"By the end of August, I intend to issue a statewide directive concerning the scope and appropriate use of prosecutorial discretion in marijuana-related offenses in municipal court," Grewal wrote in a memo to municipal prosecutors in all 21 counties.

The attorney general's action does not constitute complete marijuana decriminalization: Police can still arrest users for marijuana possession, even if their court case is in limbo. And Grewal's proposed working group hasn't even met yet, making it premature to suggest that prosecutions would be suspended indefinitely.

But the directive signals a major timeout ahead of Gov. Phil Murphy's push to legalize recreational use of marijuana. It also comes less than a week after a back-and-forth between Grewal and Jersey City officials, who announced their own plans to decriminalize weed — charging those caught possessing weed with violations akin to a traffic ticket and dismissing others.

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While that directive was rescinded at Grewal's request, a meeting between the two sides on Monday prompted Grewal to call for adjournments statewide, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said in a news release.

“This is a huge win for Jersey City, the state of New Jersey and, most importantly, the people who would have been impacted by the creation of a criminal record due to as simple marijuana arrest,” he said.

In a statement, Evan Nison, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law New Jersey executive director, applauded Grewal's memo for delaying — and possibly preventing — "thousands of unfair prosecutions.

"These offenses can follow people around for their entire lives and make it more difficult to get a job or college education," Nison said. "We‘re thrilled to see this kind of action and are excited to continue the public discussion on legalization."

Next stop, legal weed?

Progress toward New Jersey marijuana legalization, at one point anticipated to happen as soon as July 1, slowed during budget talks last month but is expected to heat back up near the end of the summer — around the time Grewal plans to issue a statewide directive regarding marijuana crimes.

While a number of prominent Democrats, including Murphy and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, support legal weed, it faced considerable backlash from legislators on both sides of the aisle — many of whom have called for decriminalization as a compromise.

“This is a commonsense approach that shows we can work toward social justice without outright legalizing the sales of highly potent candies, gummies and sodas aimed at kids," said Jeanette Hoffman, a spokesperson for New Jersey Responsible Approaches to Marijuana Policy, which opposes legal weed. "The decision makes our point exactly — that there is a sensible middle ground between criminalization and outright drug commercialization."

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Murphy has opposed settling for decriminalization and echoed those sentiments in Cliffside Park on Tuesday before signing a school-funding reform bill.

“You think it's a step in the right direction. It actually leaves the business in the hands of the bad guys. Your kids are exposed. It's not regulated. It's not taxed," he said, declining to comment on Grewal's memo.

Murphy said he intends to work with legislative leaders toward legalization of adult use marijuana “sooner rather than later” as well as opening up the state’s medical marijuana program.

“I’m all in,” he said, but added that “we have some more tweaks we’ve got to accomplish.”

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New Jersey CannaBusiness Association President Scott Rudder called Grewal's memo "great and welcomed news for the state."

"The attorney general and Murphy administration’s action are a huge leap forward in the ongoing effort to bring legal recreational cannabis and expansion of medical cannabis to New Jersey," Rudder said. "Coupled with continued progress in the Legislature, there is renewed hope that legalization and expansion will occur sooner rather than later."

During his gubernatorial campaign last year, Murphy made legal weed a major campaign platform, citing statistics that African Americans are twice as likely to be prosecuted for marijuana offenses as whites, despite similar usage rates.

In a statement, Amol Sinha, American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey executive director, said Grewal’s letter was a “step forward for New Jersey that should bring us closer to reforming our marijuana laws and ultimately righting the wrongs of unjust marijuana enforcement.

“We must pump the brakes on marijuana arrests and prosecutions, and engage in a serious critical examination of how we handle the tens of thousands of marijuana arrests we make each year. By directing prosecutors to pause adjudication of marijuana cases, this letter starts that process,” Sinha said.

“As the state Legislature charts a course towards legalization of marijuana for adult use, it only makes sense that municipalities would begin attempting to undo the harms of prohibition that have ravaged communities — particularly communities of color — throughout the state,” he said.

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State Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, lead sponsor of the New Jersey marijuana legalization bill, said Grewal’s actions should help boost momentum toward passing a legalization bill before September.

“I think we can get something passed this summer. I hope,” said Scutari, who is also the municipal prosecutor in Linden.

But there is some concern over redundancy, Scutari said. Lawmakers generally agree that, once the drug becomes legal, those with convictions for low-level marijuana offenses should have them expunged from their criminal record.

“Why spend time on these prosecutions when we’re just going to expunge them anyway?” Scutari asked.

By the numbers

In 2016, the law enforcement agencies in New Jersey made 32,279 arrests for marijuana possession, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program. That amounted to 10.6 percent of the 304,527 arrests in New Jersey for everything from murder to disorderly conduct.

The 2016 pot possession arrests in New Jersey jumped 30 percent from 2015's tally of 24,866.

Bergen County was the top county in New Jersey in 2016 with 3,681 marijuana possession arrests. Monmouth stood close behind with 3,351. Those are the arrests made by all law enforcement agencies in a given county, including the State Police.

Rural Sussex County logged the least, arresting 222 people for pot possession in 2016.

Law enforcement agencies in Monmouth County made 26,022 arrests in 2016. Some 12.9 percent of them were marijuana possession arrests.

In June, judiciary officials said prosecutors obtained more than 400,000 marijuana-related convictions since 2008. Lawmakers suggested that convictions for all but the most serious trafficking crimes would be expunged if marijuana was made legal in New Jersey.

Note: This version of the story corrects some of the statistics on marijuana possession arrests in Monmouth County and New Jersey that were based on faulty data.

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Learn more about the APP.com team and the work we do at connect.app.com. Mike Davis; @byMikeDavis: 732-643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com