EDITOR’S NOTE: NJ Cannabis Insider features exclusive, premium content for those interested in getting in on the ground floor or expanding their operation. View a sample issue. On June 26, NJ Cannabis Insider hosts a meetup with leaders in the medical marijuana space. Tickets are limited.

At long last — after more than a year of false starts and pump fakes — the state Legislature on Thursday OK’d marijuana reform in New Jersey, though it’s not the kind of reform many were hoping for.

Both the state Senate and Assembly passed a bill that would expand the state’s medical marijuana program, which has just six cannabis providers operating for nearly 50,000 patients.

If Gov. Phil Murphy signs the bill into law, as he’s expected to do, it would jumpstart significant growth in the industry.

Reform has proven challenging in the state Legislature, as shown by the failure of lawmakers to legalize marijuana. But in passing this bill (A20), legislators are helping patients who have dealt with long lines at dispensaries and supply shortages. They also very well could be laying a much more solid foundation for a legal weed market.

"We’re a step closer to the governor signing medicinal marijuana legislation into law that will provide patients with access to proven effective treatments,” Assemblywoman Joann Downey, D-Monmouth, one of the main sponsors of the bill, said in a statement. “This bill is takes the critical step needed to help more residents, and create a safe infrastructure for medicinal marijuana to grow as a program and business in New Jersey.”

The Assembly passed the bill 66-5 with six abstentions, while the Senate voted 31-5 at the Statehouse in Trenton.

“The medicinal uses of marijuana have been proven safe for years, and yet, in New Jersey we have arbitrarily restricted patients’ access since our program’s inception,” state Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, said in a statement. “In many instances, marijuana can be a safer and even more effective alternative to other pharmaceuticals, particularly in the case of opioids. I’m glad to know that soon, health care providers will be able to offer this important treatment to suffering New Jerseyans.”

The bill would create the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, which would oversee the growth of the industry and regulate cannabis businesses. It would initially allow up to 28 growers, including the 12 that have already been approved by the Department of Health. The regulatory commission would be able set the number of processors and retail stores that could open.

The bill also ends the 6.625% sales tax on medical marijuana by 2022, along with attempting to open doors for smaller businesses and women- and minority-owned businesses.

The bill also would:

Reduce the frequency of doctor visits from four times a year to once a year to verify whether a patient remains eligible for the program. Patients have long complained about the costs and bureaucratic hassles involved with the program.

Expand the amount of cannabis patients are allowed to buy each month from 2 ounces to 3 ounces for 18 months, and an amount to be determined by the cannabis commission after that. Patients with terminal illnesses would have no set limit.

Allow institutions like nursing homes and hospice centers to be listed as a patient’s institutional caregiver, acting as a conduit between the dispensary and the patient.

Grant out-of-state medical cannabis patients permission to buy medicine while visiting New Jersey, for no longer than six months.

Permit municipalities that host dispensaries to impose a tax of no more than 2% on the business.

Set a goal of awarding 15% of licenses to minority owners and 15% to women, disabled people and veterans.

Permit home delivery.

Lawmakers had planned to vote on a similar bill last week but called it off because they were concerned the governor would veto the plan. In the week since, lawmakers apparently reached a deal with the Murphy administration.

With the passage of this bill, Murphy will soon be amending a separate expansion plan that was announced earlier this month, according to sources in the administration who weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the plan.

On June 3, the state Department of Health announced that it would be accepting applications for up to 108 new medical marijuana businesses. Murphy launched that expansion because he was frustrated with the lack of progress on medical marijuana reform in the Legislature.

But with lawmakers moving this bill on Thursday, Murphy plans to amend his expansion, the administration sources said. Instead of 108 businesses, the state will seek to license 24 medical marijuana providers, five growers, 15 retailers and four vertically integrated businesses, which means they would grow, process and sell marijuana. Further expansion is likely once the regulatory commission gets up and running.

This expansion of the medical marijuana program also lays the foundation for a future legal weed industry. If residents get to vote on legalization in November 2020, as state Senate President Stephen Sweeney said is the plan, medical marijuana businesses could get the first shot at selling legal weed.

Sweeney, D-Gloucester, has referred to medical expansion as a backdoor to legalization on numerous occasions. While he’s also talking about lowering the bar for the medical program to add as many patients as possible, he also recognizes that expanding medical lays a broad foundation for a legal market.

For now, though, this move is much more about giving patients better access to medicine.

“We are at a point where patients just cannot wait any longer for easily accessible, affordable therapy," state Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal said in a statement earlier this month.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.

Amanda Hoover can be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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

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