This is the reaction of Phil Murphy to the death of N.J. legal weed bill

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A few hours after Governor Phil Murphy's campaign promised to enact a bill to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes in New Jersey, the Democratic governor said Wednesday he had had a "mixed reaction" and that He was always trying to digest the pieces.

State Senate Speaker Stephen Sweeney announced earlier in the day that he was putting an end to efforts to pass the bill through the state legislature. He would ask the voters to decide, in November 2020, to legalize the pot or not.

It's a blow to the ongoing, often dramatic, battle to make New Jersey the 11th US state to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. The pot legalization was an essential part of Murphy's 2017 campaign. With his Democratic colleagues at the head of the legislature, the referendum on voters was only a last resort.

Murphy said that he liked that. Sweeney, D-Gloucester, plans to advance two related bills in the coming weeks – expanding the marijuana program for state medical purposes and clearing records of convicted residents for possession of small amounts of pot . .

"But the devil will be in the details," Murphy said at an unrelated public event at the East Windsor Seniors Center.

"It's difficult to do it by legislation, I admit it," he added. "It has always been a failure to go to a referendum and ask the people."

Murphy and the leading Democratic legislators have spent months getting enough votes for the bill to pass, which would make marijuana for recreational purposes legal for those 21 and older.

Sweeney, of D-Gloucester, said they simply could not find enough support for the state Senate.

Murphy pointed out that the medical bill was needed because "we are going to run out of product." And he said that the write-off bill was the way he had decided to support Weed – "because of social justice".

But the governor said that he "does not know what was discussed this morning" on the operation of the bill on delisting.

"Are we trying to excrete something in the past that is still illegal today?" Asked Murphy.

Murphy said in March that he would have "no choice" but to expand his medical budget if the legislature had not passed the marijuana bill for recreation by the end of May.

But on Wednesday, he said he did not know if he was going to go ahead or just wait for the legislators to pass the medicinal weed bill.

"To be determined," said Murphy. "I did not hide that I had withheld a huge demand."

Sweeney, who often quarrels with Murphy, partially blamed the governor for the failure of the recreation law. The Speaker of the Senate stated that he had asked Mr. Murphy not to announce that he would develop marijuana himself for medical purposes, for fear of giving some legislators a reason not to support the recreational measure. . But Sweeney said the governor "did not listen".

Murphy dismissed these criticisms, claiming that the state's medical marijuana program should definitely be open.

"I refuse to be accused of trying to help citizens who have nowhere to go, whose life is at stake or whose quality of life is at stake", said the governor. "I would not call that blame. It's my responsibility as governor. "

Matt Arco can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.

Brent Johnson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ johnsb01.

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