In New Jersey, marijuana is close to being legalized

SECAUCUS, N.J. — Tucked inside a nondescript commercial warehouse here sits a sophisticated marijuana-growing operation. A custom filtration system feeds a proprietary cocktail of nutrients into a hydroponic, two-level farming system. Two pallets of crops are harvested every day, and the 15,000 square feet will eventually yield 2 tons of marijuana per year. And it is all legal. Opened just a few weeks ago, Harmony Dispensary is the latest site in New Jersey to provide marijuana for medical use, a program that has expanded greatly since Gov. Philip Murphy, a Democrat, was sworn in. More than 10,000 patients have enrolled since he took office in January, bringing the total to about 25,000. And on Monday, Murphy’s office announced it was seeking up to six new applicants for medicinal marijuana dispensaries.

“There’s been a very steady flow of patients since, literally, an hour after we announced the opening,” said Shaya Brodchandel, chief executive of Harmony.

But business could be even better.

Murphy campaigned heavily on a promise to legalize marijuana for recreational use, which would make New Jersey the 10th state to do so, and the first in the New York City region. Full recreational legalization was projected to generate $80 million in annual tax revenue, according to Murphy’s budget proposal.

Yet more than halfway through the governor’s first year, the effort has stalled. It once looked like the plan could sail through the state Legislature, which is controlled by Democrats and where it has support from Stephen Sweeney, the Senate president. But an intraparty battle over the state budget consumed Trenton’s recent attention.

Nicholas Scutari, a Democratic senator from northern New Jersey who has led the legalization effort, said a bill could still pass this summer.

Last month, Scutari tried unsuccessfully to combine an expansion of medical marijuana and the legalization of recreational marijuana into a single bill. Now he is working on drafts of two separate bills.

Scutari’s plan would grant the state’s existing medical dispensaries a license to sell recreational marijuana the first day it became legal — after enough was set aside for patients.