New Jersey voters will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana after state lawmakers easily approved a measure Monday to put the question on the ballot in November.
Both houses of the New Jersey state legislature passed the measure by a supermajority, effectively guaranteeing the referendum is considered by the voting public in 2020.
Gov. Phil Murphy campaigned on legalizing marijuana prior to being elected in 2017, but fellow Democrats in control of the state Senate and Assembly have been unable to agree on how to accomplish that goal in the nearly two years since he took office.
The proposed ballot question passed by lawmakers would put the matter into the hands of voters by asking residents if they support changing the New Jersey state constitution to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older and create a “new, personal use cannabis market.”
“Putting the issue to a referendum is both sensible and equitable. While not our preferred method of legislating, public questions allow voters to affirm or deny massive shifts in public policy,” said New Jersey state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, Middlesex Democrat.
“The time to end the prohibition of adult-use cannabis is now,” Mr. Coughlin said in a statement. “Along with enabling legislation yet to be worked out, New Jersey would become the next state to ensure a safe, highly regulated cannabis industry. The decision is now in the hands of the November 2020 electorate.”
Marijuana is considered a controlled substance and effectively outlawed by the U.S. government, but most states have passed laws defying federal prohibition to different degrees.
Thirty-three states have legalized the medicinal use of marijuana, including New Jersey in 2010. Eleven of those states have also legalized the recreational use of marijuana for adults, and eight of those have systems in place for taxing and regulating commercial marijuana sales.
The New Jersey Senate voted 24-16 in support of putting the measure on the ballot next November. The state Assembly approved it by a margin of 49-24, with one member abstaining.
If passed by voters at at the ballot box, the measure would put the state commission currently running New Jersey’s medical marijuana program in charge of the new personal use market. It would also authorize marijuana products to be subject to state sales tax and allow municipalities to charge a local tax if they wish.
Sixty-two percent of New Jersey voters support legalizing marijuana, according to the results of a statewide Quinnipiac University poll conducted in 2018. More recently, nationwide polling has similarly found that roughly two-thirds of Americans support legalizing pot.
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