Murphy mum on pre-holiday pardons

Gov. Phil Murphy declined to say whether he would issue any pardons or commutations, even ones for low-level marijuana offenses, in the three weeks before the holidays.

“On clemencies and pardons, no news to report,” Murphy said.

While voters in the state overwhelmingly approved a ballot question legalization adult-use recreational marijuana last month, cannabis has remained illegal in the state as lawmakers jockeyed over tax rates and license caps.

Though they reached a deal on legal marijuana’s enabling legislation last week, that measure has yet to move through the legislature.

A stop-gap decriminalization measure also stalled, though the amendment downgrading penalties for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms that hamstrung its progress was split into a separate bill that the Assembly Judiciary Committee advanced Monday.