New Jersey is finally in the home stretch to legalize marijuana — but what does it all mean?
The Legislature this week passed two bills that serve to both decriminalize and legalize weed — essentially, stopping arrests for most low-level marijuana offenses and setting up the general system in which New Jersey’s legal cannabis industry will operate.
NJ legal weed on the way — finally!: Marijuana legalization bills head to Phil Murphy’s desk
If Gov. Phil Murphy signs the bills into law, they’ll take effect on Jan. 1 — a monumental day in state history, as New Jersey becomes the 13th state to officially legalize marijuana for adult use.
But through weeks of negotiations, the legal weed bills have been amended countless times in ways that have made major changes, additions or subtractions.
Here’s what’s in — and what’s out — of New Jersey’s legal weed bills.
What’s in?
Decriminalization
Under this bill, anyone in New Jersey would be allowed to carry up to 6 ounces of marijuana on their person, by far the highest legal threshold of the 15 states with legal weed. And they won’t face any penalty, even a written warning.
Six ounces of weed!: NJ weed decriminalization bill takes big step forward
The bill also requires the state to put an automatic expungement process into place, essentially removing certain marijuana crimes — essentially, anything set to become legal — from a person’s criminal record without requiring them to actually file for expungement. And it would require courts to dismiss any pending marijuana case along those same lines.
Those with guilty pleas would have their pleas and cases dismissed, and courts would also provide post-conviction relief for those with a conviction of something now deemed legal.
It also removes marijuana use or possession as a parole or probation violation, and judges wouldn’t be allowed to prohibit marijuana use as a condition of supervised release.
More: NJ Attorney General calls for dismissal of marijuana cases after legal weed vote results
The bill also removes the smell of marijuana — burnt or otherwise — as “reasonable suspicion” for police officers to conduct a search of a vehicle.
Taxes
The bills set up a two-tax structure designed to raise money for social justice – particularly “impact zones,” cities with large Black and brown communities where marijuana laws were most strictly enforced.
See: NJ weed taxes, revenue for Black communities possible as legalization advances
The first tax is a pretty cut-and-dry sales tax of 7%, an increased version of the sales tax mentioned in the ballot question.
The second tax — referred to as a “social justice excise fee” — is a bit more complicated. Instead, it’s an excise tax with a flat dollar amount that fluctuates depending on the average price for one ounce of cannabis:
- $350 or more per ounce: $10 tax
- $250 to $349: $30 tax
- $200 to $249: $40 tax
- $199 or less: $60 tax
According to the bills, 70% of the sales tax would go toward those impact zones – as would all revenue from the excise fee.
So, let’s assume marijuana costs $350 per ounce at a legal New Jersey marijuana dispensary. A user would actually pay $391.50 after $41.50 in taxes:
- $350: Base price
- $24.50: Sales tax
- $10: Excise tax
- $7: Municipal tax
And of those taxes:
- $27.15: Black and brown communities harmed by the war on drugs
- $7.35: State government
- $7: Local government
Cap on cannabis cultivator licenses
This was one of the last sticking points in negotiations over the legal weed bills.
While the state Senate didn’t want any limit on the number of licenses, the Assembly insisted on a 37-license cap for growers over the first two years. Supporters say it will help control the growth of the market, preventing so much weed from being grown that could find its way into the black market — or tank the price of cannabis so low to put fledgling companies out of business.
More: NJ legal weed ‘framework’ bill advances amid drug testing, license limits concerns
But opponents say it will essentially kneecap the industry before it starts. Included in that 37-cap limit are any medical marijuana cultivation licenses issued by the CRC — and with the New Jersey Medical Marijuana Program fighting huge supply-and-demand issues, the CRC could issue many such licenses.
More ‘impact zones’
These are the cities that will receive the social justice portion of tax revenue and a leg up in cannabis licenses, as long as the business is owned by an “impact zone” resident or plans to have 25% of the workforce come from the city.
Two applications per “impact zone” would be prioritized, according to the bill.
As written in the bill, impact zones are cities with populations of more than 120,000 that also fall into the top 40% of towns with marijuana possession arrests, has a crime index of 825 or higher and an unemployment rate in the top 15% of all towns in the state.
That very specific language thus qualifies these cities as “impact zones” in New Jersey, according to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
- Atlantic City (Atlantic County)
- Bridgeton (Cumberland County)
- Camden (Camden County)
- Commercial Township (Cumberland County)
- East Orange (Essex County)
- Elizabeth (Union County)
- Franklin Township (Somerset County)
- Jersey City (Hudson County)
- Irvington (Essex County)
- Maurice River (Cumberland County)
- Millville (Cumberland County)
- Newark (Essex County)
- New Brunswick (Middlesex County)
- Orange (Essex County)
- Passaic (Passaic County)
- Paterson (Passaic County)
- Perth Amboy (Middlesex County)
- Plainfield (Union County)
- Quinton (Salem County)
- Salem (Salem County)
- Trenton (Mercer County)
- Vineland (Cumberland County)
What’s out?
Home grow
Even though you can possess, buy and sell legal weed…you still can’t grow cannabis at home.
Home grow has been the white whale for many marijuana legalization activists, the one aspect of legal weed that has been denied at every turn since 2009, when it was stripped out of New Jersey’s original medical marijuana law.
The biggest advocates for home grow are patients, who say growing cannabis at home is the easiest way for get their hands on reliable medical marijuana. The New Jersey Medical Marijuana Program has struggled with supply issues virtually since its inception, with cannabis costing north of $400 per ounce and many dispensaries putting limits on certain strains — despite doctors’ recommendations for patients.
Read: If you can buy and sell legal weed … why can’t NJ medical marijuana patients grow it?
But while home grow may have been a niche issue in the past, it’s slowly gaining momentum among legislators — especially as a way to meet those patients’ needs. Even though it’s not in the pair of bills passed on Thursday, it could be something the Legislature tackles in 2021.
CRC oversight of tax revenue
The Cannabis Regulatory Commission will play a role in how the legal weed tax revenue makes its way to impact zones, but it’s a smaller role than originally intended. Instead of dictating exactly how those funds are spent, the CRC can only “recommend” to the governor and Legislature how to spend that money.
Despite those recommendations, the final decision is left in the hands of the local governing bodies of those impact zones.
Who’s who: Gov. Phil Murphy names picks for Cannabis Regulatory Commission
The reasoning for this has been the subject of debates. On one hand, local decision-makers know more about a community’s needs than a state entity. But others are concerned that, without proper oversight and transparency, the funds won’t actually go to righting the wrongs of racist drug laws.
Old-school drug testing
This became one of the last sticking points in negotiations over legal weed bills.
Under the bills, an employer can maintain their right to keeping a drug-free workplace. They can require an employee take a drug screen as a condition of employment. And with the right cause, employers can require a drug test — such as concern over an employee being under the influence on the job.
But that drug test must also come with a physical examination to determine if the person is actually under the influence at the time, since tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive component of marijuana, can remain in the body for weeks, long after a person was actually high.
Legislators hope this language will allow employers to set the conditions for their workplace without allowing them to dictate what an employee can do in their free time. No laws exist barring workers from getting drunk on a Friday night, as long as they’re sober by Monday morning, for example.
There remains some fluidity over businesses overseen or contracted by the federal government. Federal law doesn’t allow CDL drivers to consume marijuana at all, for example, so even New Jersey businesses must adhere to those laws.
And if a federal contract is threatened due to the state’s drug policies, the business can revert back to federal policies — namely, firing an employee for using marijuana at all.
Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and basically whatever else is going on at any given moment. Contact him at [email protected] or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.
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