The governor of New Jersey says the state should \u201crevisit\u201d its current criminalization of homegrown marijuana for personal use\u2014but he thinks that conversation should happen at a later point after the commercial market has matured.<\/p>\n
Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has frequently been asked about the lack of a home grow option in New Jersey\u2019s cannabis program, and he\u2019s expressed openness to the proposal<\/a> before. But he made clear during a Q&A session on WNYC radio on Monday that he doesn\u2019t think the time is right to enact that additional reform.<\/p>\n A caller framed the question to the governor in a pointed way, asking when in the marijuana plant\u2019s life cycle it actually becomes legal. The current policy, he said, \u201cmakes it seem, respectfully, that it\u2019s that the plant itself is not really legal\u2014but the ability to make money off of the plant is legal.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy said it was a \u201cgood question.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure I\u2019m the right guy to ask the existential question of when does the plant become the reality here, so I\u2019ll leave that to someone else,\u201d the governor said. \u201cI\u2019m of the opinion that we should revisit that question at some point. And I\u2019m not sure when the right time is to revisit it.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen to the governor discuss marijuana home grow below, starting around 35:58 into the audio below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \ufeff<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think we need to get the industry probably either more on its feet or completely on its feet,\u201d the governor said. \u201cIt\u2019s going really well. The good news is it\u2019s going really, really well. But we don\u2019t have enough locations yet and I want to see a little bit more maturity in the market.\u201d<\/p>\n The WNYC host followed up by asking<\/a> if the problem is that \u201cindividual people who want to grow their own don\u2019t really have the presence\u2014they don\u2019t have a lobbyist, they don\u2019t have the ability to get the legislature to move the way the cannabis industry can.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy conceded that that \u201ccould be\u201d the case, but he pivoted to saying that the administration and regulators are \u201cdoing a very good job\u201d of standing up the market, and he pointed to the issuance of conditional cannabis business licenses as an example of how the state is working to reach a level of acceptable maturation.<\/p>\n He also recognized that the process has \u201ctaken longer than any of us would like.\u201d<\/p>\n The governor emphasized that he doesn\u2019t want to create an industry dominated by \u201cthe big guys,\u201d and conditional licenses are one way that the state is empowering people with limited access to capital, especially for \u201cwomen-, minority- and veteran-owned\u201d businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cI want everybody, particularly the folks who are impacted so badly by the war on drugs,\u201d to be able to participate in the marijuana marketplace, Murphy said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, some New Jersey lawmakers are criticizing the lack of a home grow option and calling for expanded reform.<\/p>\n In an interview with NorthJersey.com that was published on Tuesday, Sen. Vin Gopal (D) said he\u2019s long been concerned about the \u201ccorporate aspect\u201d of cannabis legalization, in terms of out-of-state interests coming in and taking over the market.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the number one thing we need to do is allow folks to have some kind of home grow options,\u201d he said. \u201cAt a minimum, the medical piece is really important because you got a lot of people who have different health issues, and home grow is relevant to them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s something that a lot of folks on both sides of the aisle agree on, [to] try to make sure New Jersey residents have that right,\u201d he said. \u201cTo arrest somebody, or going to jail for growing some plants, is absolutely insane.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Declan O\u2019Scanlon (R) echoed<\/a> his colleague\u2019s remarks and pointed out that the state allows adults to brew their own beer and make their own wine.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re a conservative Republican, you can\u2019t have that dichotomy where government insists that it is the be-all-and-end-all and is not only going to not permit you to do it, but arrest you if you do it,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Both senators introduced a medical cannabis home grow bill at the beginning of the year, but it has not advanced out of committee.<\/p>\n Separately, the New Jersey Assembly recently approved a bill that would allow licensed marijuana businesses to deduct certain expenses on their state tax returns<\/a>, a partial remedy as the industry continues to be blocked from making federal deductions under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E.<\/p>\n While the adult-use market is still developing, it\u2019s already proven profitable, with the state reporting about $80 million in marijuana sales<\/a> in the first ten weeks after retailers opened shop in April.<\/p>\n A bill filed by Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D) over the summer would also authorize the governor to enter into agreements for interstate marijuana commerce<\/a> with other states that have legalized cannabis. However, the agreements could only be forged if federal law changes, or if the Justice Department issues guidance permitting such activity.<\/p>\n The Senate president separately filed legislation to legalize psilocybin in New Jersey<\/a>, and it includes provisions that would allow people to cultivate the psychedelic at home.<\/p>\n Biden Says His Marijuana Pardons Have Improved Black Americans\u2019 Lives, But He Overstates Real-Life Impact<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n The post New Jersey Governor Says State Should \u2018Revisit\u2019 Marijuana Home Grow Ban After Market Matures<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The governor of New Jersey says the state should \u201crevisit\u201d its current criminalization of homegrown marijuana for personal use\u2014but he thinks that conversation should happen at a later point after the commercial market has matured. Gov. Phil Murphy (D) has frequently been asked about the lack of a home growContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57788"}],"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\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57789,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57788\/revisions\/57789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: New Jersey Governor Says State Should \u2018Revisit\u2019 Marijuana Home Grow Ban After Market Matures<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"