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The New Jersey Legislature will soon vote on a major expansion of the state’s medical marijuana program after the bill advanced out of two committees on Monday, and state Assembly lawmakers could vote as early as Thursday.

The measure would create a regulatory commission to oversee the Garden State’s medical marijuana industry, removing administration of the program from the state Department of Health. It would also increase the number of medical marijuana providers, giving patients more places they could buy cannabis.

Some other provisions in the plan remain to be seen. The medical marijuana bill has received significant amendments in the past several days, and the most recent version of the bill was not publicly available on Monday. Those changes will be reported as soon as they’re available.

Committees in the state Senate and Assembly easily approved the bill, giving state legislators the chance to expand the program after years of delays. Most recently, medical marijuana expansion was slowed because it was tied to legalization.

But the effort to legalize weed in New Jersey officially died last week, at least for the time being, freeing the medical marijuana expansion to move forward.

Lawmakers have wasted little time, with the Assembly scheduled to vote on the bill on Thursday. The Senate cancelled a vote on Thursday but is expected to have a voting session next week.

Under Gov. Phil Murphy, New Jersey’s medical marijuana program has grown to more than 46,000 patients, up roughly 30,000 from when he took office. Yet the industry remains small. Only six providers are operating in the state, leaving many patients in a medical marijuana desert.

Murphy moved last year to double the size of the program and the Health Department chose six additional providers. But no new licenses have been issued and no new businesses have opened, as the selection process remains held up in lawsuits.

Responding to the failure of lawmakers to legalize recreational marijuana, Murphy last week issued new regulations for the medical marijuana program, including the ability for the Health Department to issue separate permits for marijuana growers, processors and sellers. The law now requires licensed businesses to do all three.

The medical marijuana expansion bill is expected to do even more to grow the program. Lawmakers are expected to pass the bill, since medical marijuana has broad support in the Legislature.

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

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