With the Democrat's marijuana legalization push temporarily on hold, "we'll likely aggressively further open up the medical regime in the next day or two," Murphy said at a town hall meeting Monday night. | AP Photo Governor delays planned expansion of New Jersey’s medical marijuana program

Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration is walking back its public plans for expanding New Jersey’s medical marijuana program after fielding concerns from state legislative leaders, a senior administration official said Tuesday.

“The medical announcement is on hold based on our conversations with the Legislature. We determined at the time being, we’re going to work on passing this legislatively,” the official told POLITICO. “That’s not to say at a later juncture we’ll not increase supply rapidly … [but] right now, we’re on hold. We’re all in on the legislative strategy.”


A legislative source said there were concerns that medical expansion could harm the prospects for legalization.

Hours after Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin canceled a vote on a package of bills that would have legalized recreational cannabis, instituted new criminal justice reforms and expanded the state’s medical marijuana program, Murphy said his administration was planning to increase the state's supply of medical cannabis on its own.

With the Democrat's marijuana legalization push temporarily on hold, "we'll likely aggressively further open up the medical regime in the next day or two," Murphy said at a town hall meeting Monday night, adding that he’d like to see as many 200,000 patients enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program.

Such an expansion would have necessitated the opening of several more dispensaries. There are around 43,000 patients enrolled in New Jersey’s medical marijuana program. They can pick up their prescriptions at one of six dispensaries located throughout New Jersey.

The state Department of Health granted conditional approval late last year for groups to open six more dispensaries, with attached cultivators. There were long-gestating plans to issue a request for applications to open even more dispensaries after the previous RFA concluded, but those plans are on hold while the administration, Sweeney and Coughlin take another crack at advancing a legalization package through the Legislature, the administration official said.

Roughly 26,000 patients have joined the medical cannabis program since Murphy took office in January 2018. Last March, the administration made common ailments like anxiety and migraines eligible for treatment under the program.

While the marijuana legalization bill, NJ 2703 (18R), was rejected by some Senate Democrats and virtually all Republicans, a connected piece of legislation that would have expanded the medical cannabis program, NJ S10 (18R), was widely anticipated to pass.

That measure, sponsored by Sens. Joe Vitale (D-Middlesex) and Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth), codified what conditions could be treated could be treated with medical marijuana. The Cannabis Regulatory Commission, a powerful regulatory body that would have been created under the the legalization bill, would have been able to add to that list at any time.

The medical bill also would have clarified what medical professionals could prescribe marijuana and increased the amount of cannabis patients could receive to 3 ounces per month.

O’Scanlon had been considered an on-the-fence vote for the legalization bill.

On Monday, Murphy, Sweeney and Coughlin said they'd like to keep the medical and recreational marijuana bills as a package, along with a third bill, NJ A4498 (18R), which creates new processes. All three said they hoped to see all three bills pass within the year, with some modifications.

“The pairing of medical with recreational — as a method to twist the arms of people who want to vote for medical, but don’t want to vote for recreational — I don’t think there’s a moral justification for that,” O’Scanlon said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s damaging for the reputation we've fought to build for medical marijuana, to pair the two together. And I'm a guy who's open-minded — with the major changes I've proposed for recreational — open-minded to both policies."