NJ marijuana legalization: Legal weed set for hearing, possible vote on Monday
TRENTON — State lawmakers on Monday are scheduled to take the next steps in the process toward New Jersey marijuana legalization.
Bills to legalize marijuana in New Jersey, greatly expand the state’s medical marijuana program and lay out a process for expunging criminal records for certain marijuana crimes are scheduled for a joint hearing before the Senate and Assembly budget committees.
The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in the Statehouse Annex.
If the bills are approved by the committees, New Jersey will be one step closer to authorizing legal weed by year’s end. The next steps would be floor votes in the Senate and Assembly. The initiative has the backing of Gov. Phil Murphy.
The marijuana bills up for a discussion and vote by the committees include:
- S2703, which would legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, impose a 12 percent tax and allow municipalities to levy their own taxes on legal weed sales of up to 2 percent;
- S10, which would increase the monthly medical marijuana cap to 3 ounces per patient, allow adults to purchase edible forms of cannabis and allow patients to visit any medical marijuana dispensary;
- S2426, which requires the Department of Health to issue licenses for 34 new medical marijuana dispensaries (and six new medical marijuana cultivation facilities) within 90 days;
- S3205, a bill that would “revise certain procedures for expungement of records of conviction.” Details are not available because the bill has not been introduced yet.