TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) — Plans to legalize recreational marijuana in New Jersey could be going up in smoke after a deal at the state house fell through. There’s been a disagreement among Democrats, so what comes next?
“Right now, the governor can either sign or veto both bills. He can sign one, he can veto the other,” said Chris Goldstein with The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.
One bill addresses the legal sale of marijuana, the other, the decriminalization of it.
New Jersey residents overwhelmingly voted yes to legalize recreational weed in the Garden State.
A full floor vote was set for Monday but that’s no longer happening.
“Stopping marijuana arrests is a paramount importance to justice, and it is really the key to the racial justice component of marijuana legalization. If we don’t stop arrests we are not delivering on any justice whatsoever,” Goldstein said.
Bill S33-20, also known as the Cleanup Bill, was meant to add penalties for underage use of marijuana. But marijuana advocates with NORML say those penalties are way too harsh, and other senators objected to it.
“The penalties for under 21 would have been a possible driver’s license suspension and possible referral into a drug treatment program. We just don’t think these things are necessary in a state for that age group, or really any age group at all,”…
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TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) — Plans to legalize recreational marijuana in New Jersey could be going up in smoke after a deal at the state house fell through. There’s been a disagreement among Democrats, so what comes next?
“Right now, the governor can either sign or veto both bills. He can sign one, he can veto the other,” said Chris Goldstein with The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.
One bill addresses the legal sale of marijuana, the other, the decriminalization of it.
New Jersey residents overwhelmingly voted yes to legalize recreational weed in the Garden State.
A full floor vote was set for Monday but that’s no longer happening.
“Stopping marijuana arrests is a paramount importance to justice, and it is really the key to the racial justice component of marijuana legalization. If we don’t stop arrests we are not delivering on any justice whatsoever,” Goldstein said.
Bill S33-20, also known as the Cleanup Bill, was meant to add penalties for underage use of marijuana. But marijuana advocates with NORML say those penalties are way too harsh, and other senators objected to it.
“The penalties for under 21 would have been a possible driver’s license suspension and possible referral into a drug treatment program. We just don’t think these things are necessary in a state for that age group, or really any age group at all,”…
