Halt to marijuana prosecutions extended as N.J. legal weed stalls

New Jersey’s top law enforcement official has extended an order halting prosecutions for low-level marijuana offenses through the end of March, according to a memo from his office addressed to prosecutors across the state.

The move from Attorney General Gurbir Grewal comes as two bills — one to launch a legal marijuana industry in New Jersey and another to halt many arrests related to the drug — sit on Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk unsigned.

“As we continue to await anticipated final action on the pending cannabis legalization and marijuana decriminalization legislation, I am instructing all New Jersey municipal, county, and state prosecutors to seek an additional adjournment, until at least March 31, 2021, of any juvenile or adult case involving any of the following charges, alone or in combination with each other, where there are no other pending charges,” according to the letter, dated Jan. 22 and obtained by NJ Advance Media.

Grewal issued a directive in November for prosecutors to halt proceedings on marijuana possession and use offenses, having marijuana while driving or driving under the influence.

In cases where residents faced additional charges on top of low-level marijuana offenses, Grewal told prosecutors to “use their discretion” to either ask that the marijuana charges be dismissed or to postpone the entire case.

The order puts prosecutions on hold, but does not end arrests for the same offenses. Grewal has previously said police can use their discretion, too, in enforcing laws that prohibit marijuana possession and use.

Even though New Jersey voters said yes to legalizing marijuana by a 2-1 margin on Nov. 3, arrests have continued as regulatory framework needed to implement the marijuana industry languishes.

Police arrested 2,125 people for possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana in November and another 1,703 in December, according to data from the state judiciary.

Those numbers fell from the pre-election average of about 100 a day. Statewide numbers for January are not yet available, but defense attorneys have said arrests continued into the month.

Data from the state judiciary shows prosecutions dropped in December, but did not cease. Courts found 11 people guilty of possessing less than 50 grams of marijuana and found five not guilty. They dismissed 447 cases, but held hearings in 446 others.

Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, told NJ Advance Media earlier this month that those numbers do not necessarily mean a people were found guilty of marijuana possession. Instead, a court could have found them guilty of a charge brought concurrently with the possession charge. It’s unclear from the way the state keeps the collective data.

After years of resistance by some lawmakers to legalize marijuana, the state Legislature finally passed a bill to do so in mid-December following the voter referendum.

But Murphy said he could not sign that or a decriminalization bill until lawmakers established uniform civil penalties for those under 21 who are caught with marijuana. Currently, the decriminalization bill would do away with all penalties for underage use, but the legalization bill would make underage possession a disorderly persons offense.

Lawmakers briefly considered a “cleanup” bill that would add such penalties, but pushback from Black legislators who feared the change would lead to more police interactions with minority youth opposed it and ultimately killed the effort.

Murphy and lawmakers have not yet reached a new agreement in the two weeks since the deal fell apart. The governor faces an early February deadline to take action on the bills.