Cannabis Blog

The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs is holding two public comment sessions scheduled on April 19th and April 24th which will be part of the process to re-evaluate, particularly in light of recent changes to this State’s policies on medical marijuana, whether marijuana should remain as a Schedule I drug under the New Jersey Controlled Dangerous Substances Act (the “CDSA”), or be re-classified to Schedule IV (or lower). Marijuana is currently a Schedule I controlled substance, which according to the CDSA means that it “(1) has high potential for abuse; and (2) has no ...

On March 28, 2018, the NJ Department of Health issued its report on medical marijuana in response to Gov. Murphy’s Executive Order Number 6. The Report suggests ways that the Department intends to modify the existing Administrative Code, which the Department can do without legislative changes, and makes some recommendations to the Legislature to adopt statutory changes. Governor Murphy then announced that most of the Administrative Code changes would become effective immediately.

Among the administrative changes the Department states that it intends to take immediately ...

On March 5, 2018, Assemblymen Gusciora and Eustace introduced new legislation (Assembly Bill, No. 3437) to revise New Jersey’s medical marijuana program. The proposed legislation would make substantial changes to the existing law and address many of the roadblocks that medical marijuana advocates have complained impeded New Jersey’s medical marijuana program.

The legislation would create three regions: northern, central and southern New Jersey and require at least six medical marijuana dispensaries and two cultivator-processors in each region. With the six existing ...

While there are many social justice benefits to legalizing recreational cannabis, the economic benefits cannot be overlooked. Studies show that Washington and Oregon had 22,952 and 11,295 full-time cannabis jobs, respectively. This is obviously a huge benefit to any economy, as nationwide it is estimated that the cannabis industry worth $10 billion dollars a year. Estimates suggest that New Jersey’s cannabis industry could easily be worth $1 billion per a year, which will reap considerable tax benefits for the state.

NJ Advance Media recently sent a reporter to Oregon and ...

A Federal judge in New York dismissed a lawsuit challenging the scheduling of marijuana as a class I drug. Several challenges to its classification had been brought in the past and all have been unsuccessful since marijuana was classified during the Nixon administration. This lawsuit sought to demonstrate that the classification was wrong because there are medical benefits from marijuana, which means it should not be classified as class I. The criteria for class 1 drugs includes that the drug has a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medical use in treatment and a lack of ...

Notwithstanding Governor Murphy’s pledge to legalize marijuana within his first one-hundred days in office, many local governments have taken action of their own which would generally keep the (soon to be) state-legal marijuana out of their municipalities. Specifically, many municipalities are considering - or have already passed - legislation that would generally prohibit recreational marijuana retailers and other businesses involved in the retail or growing process from opening up shop within their borders. For example, earlier this week, Middletown, New Jersey ...

Members of the NJ legislature who have been opposed to marijuana legalization introduced proposed legislation that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. The bill is proffered as a compromise piece of legislation intended to accomplish some of Governor Murphy’s objectives but avoids legalizing marijuana. Under the bill, a person caught with less than 10 grams of marijuana would face a fine of $100 for a first offense, and increasing fines for subsequent offenses. The goal of the bill is to reduce the number of people incarcerated and involved in the ...

A recent poll by Fairleigh Dickinson showed than 68 percent of New Jerseyans favor changing the State’s marijuana laws, but when those numbers are broken down only 42 percent favor full legalization while 26 percent favor mere decriminalization.

This is where public education is necessary. Those 26 percent of people who favor decriminalization probably feel that way because they do not like the racial disparities that exist in the criminal enforcement of marijuana or how too many people are sitting in prison for marijuana convictions. The mere decriminalization of marijuana ...

At the forefront of any argument against legalization of marijuana are concerns that legalization will lead to an increase in DWI’s and traffic accidents. New Jersey’s recent push to legalize recreational use of Marijuana has recently garnered similar arguments from New Jersey State Senator Joe Pennacio. Several studies set out to determine whether these concerns were warranted. One such study was conducted by the American Journal of Public Health (“AJPH”).

The AJPH researchers analyzed federal data on fatal car crashes from 2009 to 2015. The AJPH, “found no ...

New Jersey’s 56^th Governor, Phil Murphy, has indicated his intent to sign into law sensible regulation of non-medical marijuana when it crosses his desk.  It may only be a matter of time before New Jersey will join the trend toward legalizing the recreational use of marijuana for people 21 years of age and older.  Therefore, it is important for New Jersey’s trust & estate and elder law attorneys to be conscious of the issues they may face in their practices if and when such legislation becomes law.

Issues to be considered by trust & estate and elder law attorneys include: the potential ...