T<\/span>o see how swiftly and totally American attitudes have changed on marijuana, visit New Jersey.<\/p>\n For eight years, the state\u2019s chief executive was Chris Christie, a man who thought campaigning for president\u00a0on a promise to end Colorado\u2019s experiment with marijuana legalization<\/a>\u00a0was a good idea. (It wasn\u2019t.)\u00a0Upon his return to work at the governor\u2019s office, where for years he served as a reliable bulwark, blocking medical marijuana access during the height of an opiate-fueled overdose crisis, Christie described legal cannabis as a liberal plot to \u201cpoison our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n New Jersey<\/a> voters watched and listened, and then decided on the exact opposite. Christie\u2019s replacement, Governor Phil Scott, who was sworn in to his role on Jan. 16, made a campaign promise to legalize marijuana \u201cwithin 100 days\u201d if he was elected.<\/p>\n And he hasn\u2019t forgotten. During his inauguration speech earlier this week,\u00a0Scott reiterated that his vision for a \u201cstronger and fairer New Jersey\u201d includes \u201ca process to legalize marijuana.<\/a>\u201d Legalizing cannabis could raise as much as $300 million in tax revenue by 2020, according to one estimate, sweet music for a state dealing with a massive, unfunded pension liability.<\/p>\n Though Gov. Scott\u2019s case for legalization is mostly fiscal as opposed to socially responsible, in case it wasn\u2019t obvious before, the message is loud and clear: Marijuana is a political winner, not a liability, and voters are keen to see prohibition undone.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Can Gov. Scott do it? Legally, no, he cannot \u2014 making laws is the job of the state legislature. (He has promised to sign whatever the legislature gives him, and within 100 days if they move that quickly.) And they just might do it. They are moving full speed ahead, with aggression and zeal not seen in other supposedly weed-friendly states like California and Colorado.<\/p>\n Bills introduced last year to legalize cannabis were scuttled largely due to Christie, who vowed to veto any marijuana-friendly bill lawmakers may present for his signature.<\/p>\n This year, lawmakers will debate and choose from at least two legalization proposals: One that would legalize cannabis for adults over 21, and another that would also do so \u2014 and would allow adults in New Jersey to purchase retail recreational cannabis as earlier as this year.<\/p>\n As NJ.com reported<\/a>, State Senator Nicholas Scutari, legalization\u2019s biggest advocate at the state capitol in Trenton, reintroduced a bill last week that would allow adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of cannabis. Low-level marijuana offenses would be wiped from criminal records, a state enforcement agency would be created, and taxes would be collected \u2014 a situation nearly identical to those rolled out in Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, California and everywhere else adults can buy cannabis.<\/p>\n Assemblyman Reed Gusciora plans to go even further. Scutari\u2019s bill does not allot for home grow. Gusciora wants adults to be allowed to grow up to six plants at home, and plans to include that provision in a bill he says he\u2019ll introduced before Feb. 1. Gusciora\u2019s plan does put a hard cap on the number of dispensaries in New Jersey at 80, a feature that\u2019s lead to complaints of monopolies and price-gouging in other states where government limits the size of the marijuana market.<\/p>\n The major difference between the two plans,\u00a0NJ.com\u00a0notes, is that under Gusciora\u2019s plan, existing medical-marijuana dispensaries would be able to start accepting customers 21 and over without a doctor\u2019s recommendation as soon as this year.<\/p>\n The trend is clear, and it\u2019s towards more: More cannabis, more plants, more legalization \u2014 and quickly. For this, there may be an unlikely savior to thank. There\u2019s speculation that Attorney General Jeff Sessions\u2019s aggressive stance on cannabis has compelled states to move more quickly on legal cannabis<\/a>. A similar phenomenon may be afoot in Jersey. If so: Thanks, Chris Christie!<\/p>\n TELL US,<\/strong> which bill do you hope New Jersey will pass to legalize cannabis?<\/p>\n The post New Jersey Might See Legal Commercial Pot Sales This Year<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The pendulum has swung in New Jersey, where the new governor promises to legalize recreational cannabis within 100 days, and lawmakers have a plan that would see retail dispensaries open for business before the year is out. To see how swiftly and totally American attitudes have changed on marijuana, visitContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,80,901,215,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22882,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22881\/revisions\/22882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: New Jersey Might See Legal Commercial Pot Sales This Year<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"