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The New Jersey legislature on Monday sent a bill to the governor’s desk that lawmakers hope will clear the way for the voter-approved legalization of marijuana to proceed.

The new proposal concerns penalties for underage cannabis possession—the absence of which in separate legalization implementation legislation caused Gov. Phil Murphy (D) to refuse to sign off on the program’s launch.

This is the latest development in a tumultuous path to get rules in place for a regulated cannabis market months after voters passed a referendum to end marijuana prohibition.

The compromise bill on its way to the governor’s desk makes it so youth would be subject to a written warning if they’re caught with cannabis. lawmakers feel this should satisfy Murphy and motivate him to sign the implementation bill, as well as a separate piece of legislation concerning the decriminalization of possession, which could take place as early as Monday.

The Senate first approved the penalties proposal, which cleared the Judiciary Committee on Friday, in a 22-12 vote. It was then transmitted to to the Assembly, where members voted 49-27, with one abstention, to pass it.

Earlier in the day, the Assembly passed its earlier version of “clean up” legislation that had advanced through the chamber’s Community Development and Affairs Committee late last month. But it’s the Senate proposal that is now heading to the governor.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Nicholas Scutari (D) previously said that Murphy’s request to add penalties for underage marijuana use was sufficiently addressed in the December legislation that’s already on his desk and “all avenues to clarify it any further are exhausted.” Advocates have also pushed back against the governor’s underage penalties request, arguing that it threatens to perpetuate the consequences of racially discriminatory enforcement practices.

As amended, the legislation would make underage possession of marijuana subject to a written warning. That policy would also apply to underage alcohol consumption, which is currently considered a petty disorderly persons offense. Another amendment would make it so 15 percent of cannabis tax revenue goes to “underage deterrence and prevention.”

Now that they’ve all been sent to his desk, Murphy could sign, veto or conditionally veto the bills—including a complementary decriminalization measure. If he opts to conditionally veto any of the bills, it would send them back to the legislature to approve or reject changes he made. If he takes no action on the bills, they will become law without his signature.

The governor pledged in a State of the State address last month that the state was “on the verge of passing an innovative and groundbreaking set of laws to reform our historically unjust approach to marijuana and cannabis.”

Meanwhile, public crime data shows that police are continuing to make busts for cannabis possession, despite the November legalization vote and a call by the state attorney general for prosecutors to suspend low-level marijuana cases.

While marijuana policy has been in flux in New Jersey, Murphy did sign a bill this month that reclassifies possession of up to an ounce of psilocybin mushrooms as a disorderly persons offense.

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Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.

The post New Jersey Lawmakers Send Marijuana Compromise Bill To Governor’s Desk, Setting Stage For Legal Sales appeared first on Marijuana Moment.

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Kyle Jaeger, KahliBuds, 420GrowLife