If the state Senate were to vote today on whether New Jersey should legalize marijuana for recreational use, the bill would fail, according to a survey by NJ Cannabis Insider, a new NJ Advance Media publication.
Only five members of the 40-member Senate said they would vote yes when reached by telephone, in person and by email over the past three weeks.
Another 20 members said they would vote no, while 15 said they were undecided or did not respond.
The full list of how state lawmakers stand can be found in the free sample issue of the Cannabis Insider.
The measure needs 21 votes to pass the Senate, then 41 votes to clear the 80-member state Assembly.
Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who ran on a campaign platform that promoted legalizing cannabis, has said he would sign the bill as soon as it reaches his desk.
But a vote is not imminent. State Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, the lead sponsor of the marijuana legalization and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has not yet scheduled a hearing on the bill, (S830).
As of Monday, Scutari said he remains undecided whether he will make changes to the current version, which he carried over from the last legislative session that ended in mid-January. [Read more at NJ.com]