People are routinely asking us at @ACLUNJ about what’s going on with the NJ marijuana bills so here’s a thread on where things stand, as we know them to be. 1/

On 12/17, the NJ Legislature passed two bills – one to decriminalize possession of up to 6oz of “marijuana” and another to legalize “cannabis.” By the legislature’s definitions, "marijuana" is unregulated product and "cannabis" is the regulated form of marijuana. 2/

Gov. Murphy chose to not sign the bills, and rather than veto them, he said we need a cleanup bill, as there is an apparent conflict with the way the bills treat possession and use of cannabis for young people under 21. 3/

The decriminalization bill removed all criminal and civil penalties for possession for adults and those under 21. @ACLUNJ strongly supports this, as it disentangles NJ from the ineffective & harmful use of the criminal legal system to deter marijuana use. 4/

However, the legalization bill contains significant criminal and financial penalties for those under 21 possessing regulated cannabis. They could face arrest & disorderly persons charges. 5/

We believe these two provisions can’t coexist. If one law requires arrests + fines and another removes consequences, at the very least, the two bills would leave cops with mixed guidance about what to do. 6/

So, a cleanup will be necessary & one was introduced the other week. That bill would allow for fines for those aged 18-20, & would encourage curbside warnings and station house adjustments for those under 18. These are tools cops have to mitigate harms of policing for kids. 7/

However, during a caucus meeting, there was reportedly a lot of disagreement over this cleanup bill, with some saying that this bill enhances penalties for kids and encourages police interaction. 8/

They’re partly right: the cleanup would enhance penalties as compared to the decriminalization bill.

But it would reduce penalties compared to the legalization bill. It was designed to resolve the apparent issue between the two bills. 9/

It may also help mitigate the harms of policing w/ the emphasis on curbside warnings & stationhouse adjustments. (We don’t like the idea of ANY police interaction, but this is better than arrests.) 10/

In any case, the effort fell apart, and now some in the legislature are saying Gov. Murphy should sign the bills on his desk. The governor is saying we need a cleanup. 11/

Despite all this, there is significant overlap between the Gov, the Legislature - and even advocates - on policy:

We want to create disincentives for kids so that they don’t use cannabis, but we don’t want to rely on punitive criminal consequences to do so. 12/

@ACLU-NJ would support a cleanup bill that would:
1) Eliminate or significantly reduce the reliance on fines;
2) Build in alternatives to fines like reasonable community service;
3) Eliminate driver’s license delays/suspensions for violations;

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4) End use of odor as reasonable suspicion for stops and searches of kids, adults, or their cars;
5) Never allow for police to arrest children.

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Again, everyone agrees: end criminal penalties for adults and kids, create public health-based disincentives for kids, don’t arrest kids. It’s as simple as that. We need to come to an agreement and move these bills forward now. 15/

Meanwhile, NJans are rightly frustrated with a process that has languished and today, NJ continues to make arrests even though the ballot question passed and cannabis is in our constitution. In fact, Newark is on track to make more arrests this year than it did last year. 16/

It’s beyond time to get this done. To all our elected leaders: we need you to lead the way forward for our state. We must stop the arrests and the gross injustice that we're continuing to perpetuate. New Jersey can’t wait any longer. 17/17