
Days after Gov. Phil Murphy shelved a plan to drastically expand the state’s existing medical marijuana program, the Democratic governor said he will give lawmakers until May to pass the contested legislation or he will resume his efforts on expanding access to medicinal cannabis.
“We’re not going to wait around a lot,” Murphy said at an unrelated event in Saddle Brook early March 28. Lawmakers cancelled a vote March 25 on a bill to legalize adult-use marijuana because the Senate could not come up with the 21 votes needed to pass.
The Assembly had the 41 votes the bill needed, but Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-19th District, said he would not put the measure up for a vote without the Senate.