New Jersey

With lawmakers having failed to establish adult-use cannabis legislation this session, Senate President Steve Sweeney says he’s planning to put the question to voters via a ballot initiative in the 2020 general election.

In lieu of the adult-use cannabis reforms he hoped to establish this year, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed an executive order expanding the state’s medical cannabis program.

Legislative leaders had packaged the medical cannabis and recreational bills together hoping to garner more ‘yes’ votes for legalization, but may need to take separate action to benefit medical patients if the adult-use bill continues to flounder.

A vote was expected after the legalization bill passed two legislative committees last week, but a number of dissenting Democratic senators means the vote would fail — for now.

After it passed several key legislative hurdles, New Jersey lawmakers are set to vote on the state’s pending legalization bill as early as next week.

A months-long disagreement between prominent state Democrats over cannabis legalization details has come to an end, reports indicate, and cannabis legalization legislation may move forward in New Jersey.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has added opiate addiction as a qualifying condition for medical cannabis, effective immediately. The state has already seen 141 opioid overdose deaths in 2019.

Dozens of New Jersey townships are establishing preemptive bans on the adult-use cannabis industry as state lawmakers are expected to legalize sometime this year.

New Jersey Bill S10 has missed previous deadlines due to political wrangling. Now, further delays are expected as debate over the adult-use legislation expected in the coming session begins to heat up.