Monday was a big day for New Jersey lawmakers to debate how the state’s new cannabis landscape will unfold. The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee heard multiple pieces of cannabis legislation at once: S21, a bill to implement a cannabis legalization regulation after voters passed Public Question 1; and two bills that lawmakers merged that would decriminalize cannabis and expunge some cannabis-related offenses. After nearly three hours of debate and discussion, the committee voted in favor of advancing S21, approving the proposal 6-1 with several abstentions. Discussion among senators mostly focused on the illicit market, home growth, testing and law enforcement, tax allocation, and equity and social justice provisions. Senators also eventually debated and decided to combine A1897 and S2535, creating one bill to cover decriminalization and expungement, voting to release this bill, too. Running concurrently to the Senate committee hearing on cannabis, the Assembly Oversight Committee heard their version of the cannabis regulation bill and voted to advance it.
Alyson Martin, Cannabis Wire, 11/08/2020 19:00:00