Senator Nicholas J. Scutari, D-Union, recently introduced a new bill that seeks to simultaneously legalize recreational marijuana for adults and provide broader patient access to medical marijuana under New Jersey’s Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act. This is the first bill to jointly address access to medical and recreational marijuana in New Jersey. Scutari’s comprehensive bill allows for a total of 218 marijuana dispensaries throughout New Jersey: 120 recreational and 98 medical. Other provisions of the bill include a requirement that municipalities opposed to marijuana sales within their borders must pass an ordinance prohibiting sales within 180 days of the law’s enactment, a provision permitting recreational marijuana dispensaries to create a “consumption area” where customers can use marijuana onsite, as well as a phase-out plan for the 7% tax currently imposed on medical marijuana.
Introduced just three weeks before the Legislature’s budget deadline, the bill faces an uphill battle. However, it has received vocal support from two other legislators. Senator Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, has signed on as co-prime sponsor of the bill, and Assemblyman Jamel Holley released a statement pledging his support for the bill.