Tuesday, March 2, 2021
On February 22, 2021, New Jersey’s governor signed the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (“CREAMMA” or the “Act”), legalizing the recreational use of cannabis items, i.e., marijuana, for individuals age 21 and older. Importantly, the Act also provides job protections to recreational marijuana users and imposes new drug testing requirements for employers conducting drug testing for employee or applicant use of cannabis items.
Adverse Action Prohibited
refusing to hire or employ any person or discharging from employment, or
taking any adverse action against an individual solely because that person does (or does not) use marijuana recreationally.
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On February 22, 2021, Governor Phil Murphy signed the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (“NJCREAMMA”), which legalizes the recreational use of cannabis for adults age 21 and over. On that same date, Governor Murphy also signed the companion cannabis decriminalization bill (A1897) (the “Decriminalization Law”) and the “Clean Up” bill (S3454), which decriminalize cannabis and address penalties for the possession and consumption of cannabis by individuals who are under 21 years old.
NJCREAMMA provides various employment protections for employees who use cannabis recreationally and imposes strenuous requirements on New Jersey employers that conduct drug testing for the presence of cannabis in an individual’s system. While some provisions of NJCREAMMA became effective immediately, the employment-related provisions do not become enforceable until the Cann
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On Monday February 23, 2021, Governor Phil Murphy signed three bills into law that establish a recreational cannabis program in New Jersey for adults who are at least 21 years old.
A21 (The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act) legalized recreational cannabis for use by adults who are 21 years old and older and authorizes its regulation. A separate bill, A1897, decriminalizes the possession of cannabis and hashish. A third bill, S3454, provides for penalties for minors younger than 21 years old who use or possess cannabis.
New Jersey’s recreational cannabis program will establish a licensing system with six classes of licenses to cultivate and distribute recreational cannabis. It will be regulated by the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, the same state agency that oversees its medicinal cannabis program. At least 70 percent of the tax revenues from cannabis sales will
Governor Phil Murphy on MOnday signed historic adult-use cannabis reform bills into law, legalizing and regulating cannabis use and possession for adults 21 years and older (A21 – “The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act”) and decriminalizing marijuana and hashish possession (A1897). The Governor also signed S3454, clarifying marijuana and cannabis use and possession penalties for individuals younger than 21 years old.
“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 Governor Murphy. “This November, New Jerseyans voted overwhelmingly in support of creating a well-regulated adult-use cannabis market. Although th
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After contentious negotiations, Governor Phil Murphy has signed the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act (the Act) implementing the constitutional amendment embracing recreational marijuana ratified in November 2020.
1 When the framework created by the Act is in place, New Jersey will be the first state in the nation to protect employees from almost any adverse employment action triggered by off-work recreational marijuana activity. Employer policies and drug-testing programs will have to be modified to comply with the broad requirements of the new law.
Last-minute changes to the legislation addressed marijuana/cannabis use rules and under-age-21 penalties for possession, but the severely restrictive employment-related rules are the same as those first passed in December.