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Historic vote! New Jersey Senate and Assembly Committees advance bills to legalize and regulate marijuana

Nov 26, 2018

A4497, expungement, legalization, New Jersey, New Jersey's Assembly Appropriations Committee, New Jersey’s Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, NJ, S2703, Tax and Regulate


Historic vote! New Jersey Senate and Assembly Committees advance bills to legalize and regulate marijuana

If you live in New Jersey, please ask your lawmakers to vote to end marijuana prohibition.

Today, November 26, New Jersey’s Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee and Assembly Appropriations Committee voted in favor of S2703 and A4497, which would legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana for adults 21 and over. Please click here to thank lawmakers who voted yes or ask your lawmakers to do so when the bill comes to up for a vote of the whole chamber.  If New Jersey passes a bill this year, it will make history as the first state to legalize, tax, and regulate marijuana through the legislature (as opposed to a ballot initiative).

This is not the end of the debate; even some of the lawmakers who abstained or voted no indicated they might reconsider, and some of those who voted yes said they still wanted to see additional changes to the bill. It’s critical that your lawmakers continue to hear from you. If you have a moment after you send an email, please consider calling your lawmakers as well. Their phone numbers are listed here.

In other good news, the Assembly also voted to advance an expungement bill that would make it easier for people to clear their records, which MPP also supported.