Client UPDATE from the Riker Danzig Cannabis Law Group

April 3, 2018

Governor Murphy Announces the Expansion of the
Medical Marijuana Program in New Jersey

On March 27, 2018, Governor Phil Murphy announced the substantial expansion of the Medical Marijuana Program (MMP) under New Jersey’s Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act (CUMMA), which includes the following:

The creation of the Medical Marijuana Division in the Department of Health, to be headed by newly appointed Assistant Commissioner Jeffrey A. Brown;

Expanding the list of debilitating medical conditions and streamlining the process for the addition of debilitating conditions;
Reducing the MMP registration fee from $200 to $100, and including veterans and senior citizens among those qualified for the reduced $20 registration fee;
Permitting qualifying patients to have two registered primary caretakers authorized to obtain medical marijuana for them.
Expediting the application process for future alternative treatment centers (ATCs);
Permitting ATCs to dispense medical marijuana at satellite locations and cultivate medical marijuana at more than one cultivation site;
Creating separate endorsements for ATC permits, allowing ATCs to engage in one or more specializations (cultivation, manufacturing, or dispensing);
Eliminating the mandatory registry for physicians interested in providing care to MMP patients; and
Working with the Legislature to amend CUMMA to permit (1) patient registration at more than one ATC; (2) adult use of edibles; and (3) marijuana to be used as a first-line treatment for certain conditions.

All changes to the MMP, and recommended changes to CUMMA, can be found in the Department of Health’s March 26, 2018 Report, which is available at
http://www.state.nj.us/health/medicalmarijuana/documents/EO6Report_Final.pdf.

Governor
Murphy Announces Budget for 2019 Fiscal Year and
Affirms Administration's Goal of Legalizing and Regulating
Recreational Marijuana

On
Tuesday, March 13, 2018, Governor Murphy made his first budget address
for fiscal year 2019 at the Statehouse in Trenton. The
Administration intends to legalize adult-use marijuana by January 1, 2019 and
anticipates that legalization will generate approximately $80 million in
revenue. Governor Murphy recognized and thanked those in the Assembly and
Senate, such as Senators Ronald L. Rice and Robert W. Singer, that have
proposed a decriminalization bill, but affirmed his position that legalization,
regulation, and taxation of recreational marijuana is the only effective means
of reducing the disproportionate marijuana-related arrest rate for minorities,
the high costs associated with prosecuting marijuana-related activity, and the
illegal marijuana market.

Governor
Murphy further indicated that cost savings from marijuana-related prosecutions
would be directed to addressing illegal gun trafficking, providing “stronger
community policing,” and fighting the opioid epidemic, while State tax revenues
from a legalized marijuana market would be invested into those communities most
negatively impacted by non-violent drug-related convictions and
mandatory-minimum drug-sentencing.

Assemblyman Reed Gusciora Introduces Legislation Proposing the
Legalization and Regulation of Recreational Marijuana

On
Monday, March 12, 2018, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora introduced Assembly Bill No.
3581, the “New Jersey Adult Recreational Use Marijuana Law,” to legalize,
regulate, and tax the adult-use, cultivation, manufacture, and distribution of
small amounts of marijuana. Assembly Bill No. 3581’s provisions are very
similar to Senate Bill No. 830/Assembly Bill No. 1348, previously introduced on
January 9. Unlike Senate Bill No. 830/Assembly Bill No. 1348, however,
Assembly Bill No. 3581 proposes substantially more dispensaries (a maximum of
ten recreational dispensaries in each legislative district for a total of 400
potential recreational dispensaries state-wide), a lower tax rate cap of 15%,
and permitting “home growing” of marijuana plants.

The
Division of Consumer Affairs Revisits Whether to Reschedule Marijuana

On
February 27, 2018, the Division of Consumer Affairs stated that it would
withdraw its appeal of the Appellate Division’s decision in Kadonsky v. Lee, 452
N.J. Super. 198 (App. Div. 2017) and “embark on a process to revisit whether
the currently accepted uses for medical marijuana warrant any change in its
classification.” In Kadonsky,
the Appellate Division reversed the Director of the Division of Consumer
Affairs’ denial of a request to reclassify marijuana, holding that the Director
has authority under New Jersey’s Controlled Dangerous Substances Act (CDSA) to
reclassify marijuana without a change to existing federal law.

Schedule
I controlled substances under the CDSA must have “no accepted medical use in
treatment in the United States.” In enacting the Compassionate Use Medical
Marijuana Act (CUMMA), however, the Legislature declared that “[m]odern medical
research has discovered a beneficial use for marijuana in treating or
alleviating the pain or other symptoms associated with certain debilitating
medical conditions.”

In
remanding the matter to the Director to consider reclassification, the Kadonsky Court opined
that “[w]hile there may have been ‘no accepted medical use in treatment in the
United States’ for marijuana when the CDSA became effective, any argument
suggesting that premise is still valid in the post-CUMMA era strains credulity
beyond acceptable boundaries.”

Rohrabacher-Blumenauer
Amendment is Renewed Through September 2018

As part
of the $1.3 trillion federal spending bill enacted on March 23, 2018, Congress
renewed the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer (previously known as the Rohrabacher-Farr)
Amendment through September 2018. The Amendment is an appropriations rider with
bipartisan support that prohibits the Justice Department from using federal
funds to prevent states from implementing medical marijuana laws. The
Ninth Circuit in United
States v. McIntosh held that the prohibition under the
Amendment also prevents the Justice Department from spending federal funds to
prosecute individuals who are engaged in conduct that is permitted by, and in
compliance with, state medical marijuana laws. This is the eleventh time
the Amendment has been approved or renewed since its first passage in 2014.

For more
information, please contact any member of our Cannabis Law Group: