With adult-use recreational marijuana officially legal as of Monday in New Jersey, the state is likely to become a stopping ground for Bucks Countians wishing to consume cannabis.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s signature decriminalized marijuana and legalized regulated marijuana use and possession for those 21 years of age and older. The move follows a change to the state constitution that was approved by more than 70 percent of voters last fall.
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Murphy’s office said the state will regulate the marijuana industry and license cannabis businesses. The state expects the now-legal industry to be a success and plans to invest revenues in designated “impact” zones.
“Our current marijuana prohibition laws have failed every test of social justice, which is why for years I’ve strongly supported the legalization of adult-use cannabis. Maintaining a status quo that allows tens of thousands, disproportionately people of color, to be arrested in New Jersey each year for low-level drug offenses is unjust and indefensible,” said Murphy.
It was not clear how long it will take for the state’s recreational marijuana marketplace to get going.
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New Jersey is the 13th state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana. It is the only state contiguous to Pennsylvania to legalize recreational pot. Canada, which shares a water border with Pennsylvania, legalized recreational marijuana in 2019.
While Pennsylvania does have legal medical marijuana for about 20 types of conditions, recreational marijuana is not legal, but there is a push to change the law. Advocates have cited the estimate that it would bring more than $500 million to the Keystone State’s coffers.
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Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who recently launched a Democratic bid for U.S. Senate, has said that 40 percent of Pennsylvanians live within 30 minutes of New Jersey, which will send many seeking legal recreational pot across the border.
Gov. Tom Wolf changed his mind and came out in support of recreational marijuana as more states legalized it.
With the Levittown-area sitting just minutes from Burlington and Mercer counties in New Jersey, many Pennsylvanians seeking recreational marijuana would be able to get around Pennsylvania’s pot prohibition by crossing the state line.
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And this wouldn’t be the first time something similar has happened.
Since Prohibition ended, Pennsylvania has had a drinking age of 21. However, the Garden State lowered their legal drinking age from 21 to 18 in 1973 before raising it to 19 in 1980. In 1983, the drinking age in New Jersey was raised to match Pennsylvania’s.
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It wasn’t uncommon in the 1970s and early 1980s for Levittown-area young adults unable to legally drink in Pennsylvania to travel across the bridges to bars or liquor stores in New Jersey.
Transporting marijuana across state lines remains illegal and possession of it – even if purchased legally in New Jersey – remains illegal in Pennsylvania.
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Those with Pennsylvania medical marijuana prescriptions are only able to purchase the product legally in the state.
A paper by David G. Evans, who previously ran the New Jersey Intoxicated Driving Program and worked as a public defender, published in the Missouri Medicine Journal from 2019 focused on legalized marijuana in California. It noted that it didn’t stop the illegal black market, increased offenses of DUI while under the influence of marijuana, and created some crime related to the legal marijuana industry.
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Some research has shown that that marijuana use can trigger psychotic symptoms in some patients.
Marijuana advocates make the case that the substance is less harmful, in most cases, than alcohol, that the regulated sale would create tax revenue, new businesses in the industry would create jobs, that there is widespread support from the public, and industry regulation protects consumers from unregulated marijuana often sold on the streets.
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