New Jersey Suspends All Pot Prosecutions - At Least Until Fall
TRENTON, NJ State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has shaken up New Jerseys marijuana politics with an announcement Tuesday that he has ordered county and municipal prosecutors to defer all marijuana-related cases until early September.
The move was an unexpected response to a squabble over whether a city in the state could decriminalize pot possession on its own.
Last week, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop moved to unilaterally decriminalize small-time pot possession in his city. State Attorney General GurbirGrewal told him he couldnt do that.
In a letterlast Friday, Grewal declared that his office takes no position on marijuana legalization or decriminalization, by warned Fulop he was exceeding his authority.
I write to advise that, as a municipal prosecutor, you do not have the legal authority to decriminalize marijuana or otherwise refuse to criminally prosecute all marijuana-related offenses in the municipal courts of Jersey City, Grewal wrote. Accordingly, I am instructing you that your memorandum is void and has no effect.
But by Monday, Grewal was singing a different tuneone that will affect thousands of people currently facing marijuana charges in the state.
According toPolitico, Grewal met with Jersey City officials that day and then agreed to create a working group to set a statewide policy for prosecutors by the end of August. Both the Jersey City prosecutor and the Hudson County (home of Jersey City) prosecutor will be part of the group.
In the interim, I ask that all municipal prosecutors in New Jersey seek an adjournment until September 4, 2018, or later, of any matter involving a marijuana-related offense pending in municipal court, Grewal wrote in a letter to prosecutors. This adjournment will give my office sufficient time to develop appropriate guidance for prosecutors.
The move comes as the legislature, with the encouragement of Gov. Phil Murphy (D), ponders a pair of legalization bills, S 2702andS 2703, filed by Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Nicholas Scutari (D-Cumberland).
On Monday, Sweeney announced he would combine the bills, tying legalization to an expansion of the states medical marijuana program.
Murphy had vowed to legalize marijuana within 100 days of his January inauguration, but that hasnt happened yet. Thats due in part to opposition from the likes of state Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Essex), head of the Legislative Black Caucus, who favors decriminalization over legalization, and who just last week was warning that legalization could lead to sex toys and oils with marijuana,among other horrible consequences.
On Tuesday, Gov. Murphy reiterated that decriminalization ...
