The state legislature couldn’t muster the votes to approve legalizing recreational marijuana use in the Garden State, but that isn’t stopping the state’s top law enforcement official from preparing for the eventuality.
Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said that right now only about 500 officers are trained as “drug recognition experts,” according to a report by NJBiz. Grewal said he wants all of the state’s 1,400 road patrol troopers trained to recognize high motorists, according to the report.
It will cost the cash-strapped state about $260 per officer for the training, NJBiz said. Towns who want their police officers trained would also have to juggle schedules to allow for that to happen. Grewal said the state is also going to stop training dogs to recognize the scent of marijuana.
While Gov. Phil Murphy has made legalizing and taxing the recreational use of marijuana a top priority, he has not yet been able to convince enough members of his own party in the legislature to support the plan. A legalization effort recently stalled, and Murphy has said that if lawmakers can’t muster the votes to allow recreational marijuana by May, he will move ahead with efforts to expand the medical use of marijuana.
Quote of the Day: “For the future of the organization, if it has one, a lot of these issues need to be cleared up,” — Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, on the Schools Development Authority under Lizette Delgado-Polanco, a prominent Democratic politician who allegedly fired longtime career staff and replaced them with political patronage appointments and people with whom she had close personal relationships.
NJ’s Top Cop Begins Prepping for Legal Marijuana
Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said his public safety department is readying its personnel for the legalization of marijuana, including preparing state troopers to recognize stoned drivers, and no longer training K-9 drug-sniffing dogs to recognize the scent of cannabis.
NJBiz Read more
Murphy Compares Legalizing Weed in NJ to Landing on the Moon?
One small step for marijuana, one giant leap for New Jersey? Gov. Phil Murphy insisted Wednesday that Garden State leaders are still very much committed to passing a bill that would legalize recreational marijuana here even though a planned vote fell apart last month after more than a year of debate and tense negotiations.
NJ.com Read more
‘Stop Killing Black People.’ Here’s How Residents Say They’re Treated by Police in Paterson
“Every time I wake up, I feel my blackness,” Zellie Thomas told a room full of residents in Paterson. “I walk the streets not knowing if I’ll make it home or not.”
NJ.com Read more
Booker Targets a Signature Issue in Proposed New Legislation
On the presidential campaign trail, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker often talks about what he calls economic justice.
NJ.com Read more
More Than 500 NJ Bridges Are in Poor Condition or Worse, Report Says
Despite a slight improvement over the years, New Jersey still has some of the worst bridges in the country, according to a new report.
The Record Read more
NJ Schools Development Authority: A Guide to the Personnel Scandal
The Schools Development Authority is at the center of a personnel scandal that threatens its future and also poses a political liability for Gov. Phil Murphy, whose hiring practices have already become the subject of a special legislative committee.
Daily Record Read more
New Jersey Now Has 947,024 More Registered Democrats Than Republicans
New Jersey is on track to have one million more Democrats than Republicans within the next year, with Democratic voter registration outpacing the GOP by a more than 3-1 margin so far in 2019.
New Jersey Globe Read more
NJBIA Leader: Only Structural Reforms Will Save NJ From Financial Crisis
The testimony on the fiscal 2020 state budget from Treasurer Elizabeth Maher Muoio to the Legislature recently was troubling, at best, and served to validate the immediate need for structural reforms versus increased taxes and spending.
ROI-NJ Read more
Feds Said Fumes From NJ Superfund Site Weren’t Harmful. A New Report Says Otherwise.
When Edgewater residents complained last year about noxious fumes coming from cleanup work at the Quanta Superfund site, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials said there was no health risk to the public.
The Record Read more
Wrongly Convicted People Will Address Criminal Justice Reform at William Paterson Forum
John Bunn could not read when he arrived at the youth detention facility in a state-issued jumpsuit, convicted of a crime he did not commit.
The Record Read more
Breakfast Missing for More Than 137,000 Students in NJ’s Poorest Schools
Come September, approximately 650 New Jersey schools will be required under state law to serve free or reduced-price breakfast to their students after the first bell rings, not before it.
NJ101.5 Read more
Ocean County GOP Leader Bought $33K George Washington Statue
New Jersey Republican heavyweight George R. Gilmore spent $33,000 on a life-size bronze statue of George Washington, court testimony revealed in the second day of his federal tax trial in Trenton.
Asbury Park Press Read more
Corzine: NJ Led the Way, I Urge Other States to End the Death Penalty, Too
When California Governor Gavin Newsom suspended executions in his state, he took a momentous step in our nation’s long journey toward justice.
NJ.com Read more
