Daniel J. Munoz reports for NJBIZ
The state Senate approved a measure in a 33-4 vote that would dramatically expand New Jersey’s medical marijuana program after the Assembly approved the measure by a wide margin last week.
The legislation that was passed Thursday in the Senate was amended to include a requirement that dispensaries, known as alternative treatment centers, hire union workers and demonstrate that they have a labor agreement in place.
The bill would give priority to applicants who already have an agreement with an labor organization, according to the amendments.
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Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd District, said the Assembly would vote on June 10 to approve the bill with the new amendments, after which it would head to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk. The state Senate is also expected to vote on the expungement bill that same day, which Sweeney said was pulled from Thursday’s session because of “drafting errors.”
That measure would set up New Jersey to be a “national model for treating patients,” said one of the bill’s main sponsors, Sen. Joe Vitale, D-19th District, who also chairs the Senate health committee.
Tax talk
Assembly Bill 10 would legalize edible forms of medical marijuana, allow medicinal patients to purchase up to three ounces of cannabis a month, eliminate the sales tax in 2025, and allow towns where ATCs are based to levy a 2 percent transfer tax.
Vitale and Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-21st District – the other major backer of both the medical and recreational cannabis bills – largely defended the intention to keep the tax rate intact. Whereas, prior versions of the legislation would have gradually phased out the tax rate over several years.
Scutari said the state would need to handle several regulations for medical marijuana that would typically be handled by the Food and Drug Administration for any medication, but would not be because cannabis is still illegal under federal law. Those state-level regulations, Scutari said, carry a price tag.
Vitale said towns would simply have the option to levy up to a 2 percent tax, which would be permissive and not mandatory, and allow municipalities money to handle local regulations and enforcement.
Vitale pinned the blame for the large costs of medicinal cannabis on the fact that health insurance companies cannot, under federal law, cover medical marijuana.
