The state of New Jersey’s attorney general Gurbir Grewal, has put a pause on all marijuana cases in municipal courts statewide.
The hold will go on until at least September. Grewal sent a letter on Tuesday to municipal prosecutors in the state, asking them to seek an adjournment until Sept. 4 — or later — of any matter “involving a marijuana-related offense pending in municipal court,” a move that will allow the attorney general’s office time to develop “appropriate guidance” for prosecutors.
The letter however did not address whether arrests for marijuana posession would be put on hold.
Grewal intends on getting a working group of criminal justice stakeholders together to study the issue and advise him on possible solutions.
According to Amol Sinha, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s New Jersey chapter, the letter is a “step forward.”
“We must pump the brakes on marijuana arrests and prosecutions, and engage in a serious critical examination of how we handle the tens of thousands of marijuana arrests we make each year,” he said.
New Jersey Advance Media was the first to report the letter.
