New Jersey lawmakers are making it very difficult for the marijuana movement. For the second time this year lawmakers in the state have pulled the plug on legalization of the drug for recreational use.
This week legislative leaders introduced a resolution that would put a recreational use question on the November 2020 ballot instead.
In order for it to make it to the ballot, the resolution will need to pass both houses of the state Legislature by three-fifths majorities in one year or by simple majorities in consecutive years.
“We made further attempts to generate additional support in the Senate to get this done legislatively, but we recognize that the votes just aren’t there. We respect the positions taken by legislators on what is an issue of conscience,” Senate President Steve Sweeney and Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) said in a joint statement.
“The time is now for action,” Scutari said. “We’re close. We’re closer than we’ve ever been before. Action is needed now. I can tell you that we are discussing this at the highest levels of the Statehouse.”
“We couldn’t wait any longer. We tried to get as many votes as we could, with everything going on with lame duck, I’m not sure we could get people nailed down,” Scutari told POLITICO. “This is the safest way to go.”
“By approving this ballot measure before the end of this legislative session, New Jersey will move one step closer to righting a historical wrong and achieving what I have spent more than three years advocating for,” said New Jersey’s governor Phil Murphy.
