Tag: New Jersey

New Jersey Wants to Ban Vape Sales in Pharmacies
New Jersey is one step closer to banning pharmacies in the state from selling any deemed tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee approved legislation the legislation sponsored by Senator Joe Vitale, S-1144, would prohibit the sale of all tobacco products and electronic smoking devices at pharmacies, however, department stores and food retailers licensed to operate a pharmacy on its premises or lease space to a third party to run a pharmacy would not be subject to the prohibition.
Credit: CVS
“Pharmacies have the important responsibility of making and dispensing medicine to patients in the community and providing them with health advice to help them get well,” said Senator Vitale (D-Middlesex), who is chairman of the Senate’s health committee. “With tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the nation, it’s antithetical that pharmacies sell tobacco products and smoking devices.”
Research shows most smokers begin using tobacco products as minors and that pharmacies are an important point of access for young users, Senator Vitale noted in a press release. It also suggests that banning tobacco sales in pharmacies can reduce “tobacco retail outlet density,” which is associated with higher rates of youth usage as well as racial and economic disparities in tobacco use.
The owners of any businesses caught violating the ban would be subject to a civil penalty of not less than $250 for a first violation, $500 for a second violation, and $1,000 for a third or subsequent violation.
The bill exempts food and department stores because previous versions of the bill had stalled in the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee because they had not included that exemption. CVS has not sold tobacco in its stores nationwide since 2014 while Wegmans stopped selling them in 2008.
February 14, 2021
New Jersey Prioritizes Smokers for Vaccine

Photo: torstensimon from Pixabay
Smokers in New Jersey are now eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, along with other groups that the state considers to be at risk for severe complications from the virus, reports The New York Times. Those groups include those 65 and older and younger people with underlying health problems, including cancer, heart conditions and diabetes.
The announcement came a day after the Trump administration told states to expand eligibility and to quickly use existing vaccine or risk losing future allocations.
New Jersey’s decision to immediately adopt all of the recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for priority vaccination has prompted a backlash because it puts these groups ahead of some essential workers, including teachers.
On Friday, Governor Philip Murphy called criticism that smokers were jumping the line a “cheap shot” and a “false narrative,” noting that the state is hewing closely to CDC guidelines.
The CDC includes smoking on a list of medical conditions that it recommends be prioritized in state vaccination programs because of the higher risk of serious complications from Covid-19. But to date, only one other state, Mississippi, appears to have authorized vaccinations for people younger than 65 based solely on the criterion that they smoke cigarettes.
New Mexico and Texas have made people with other high-risk medical conditions eligible for the vaccine, but not smokers. Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts and North Carolina include smokers, but not until later phases.
As of Friday, New Jersey had administered less than half of the 658,800 doses of vaccine shipped to the state, according to the CDC, a rate that lags behind most other states in the Northeast.
January 18, 2021
Voters Approve Marijuana Measures in 5 U.S. States

Some 16 million Americans were added to the list of places that allow adults to use marijuana legally, after voters in New Jersey, Arizona, South Dakota and Montana on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved ballot measures on weed.
They will join about 93 million Americans who live in states that already have legalized weed, meaning about 1 in 3 Americans now live in states where marijuana is legal for anyone at least 21 years old, according to Politco.com.
South Dakota and Mississippi voters also approved measures to legalize medical marijuana on Election Day.
The momentum in states, including deep red parts of the country, should be a call to action for the federal government, said Steve Hawkins, the executive director of legalization advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.
“Regardless of who controls the White House, the House and the Senate, we should demand landmark federal marijuana reform in 2021,” Hawkins said.
The New Jersey measure does not immediately legalize marijuana, however. The state Legislature still needs to pass legislation to implement legalization.
November 4, 2020
Marijuana Legalization Vote on Ballot in 5 U.S. States

Credit: Sharon McCutcheon
Marijuana legalization is on the ballot in five U.S. states on Nov.3, four of which are for recreational use. The financial crisis cause by the Covid-19 pandemic and potential to bring in more taxes are the motivation for the measures.
In less than 2 weeks, voters will decide on whether to legalize recreational marijuana in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota. Mississippi will also consider a pair of ballot initiatives to legalize medical marijuana.
Despite COVID-19 risks, advocates managed to collect more than 661,000 signatures in four of those states in the 2020 election cycle to put the questions on the ballot, according to rollcall.com. Some began before the pandemic hit, while advocates with later deadlines added protective steps like using individual plastic-wrapped pens.
In recent years, 11 states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 years old or older, while 33 states plus the District have legalized medical marijuana for some patients.
If successful, as is likely in all the states this year except possibly Mississippi, the new legalization efforts could altogether bring in hundreds of millions in tax revenue, which could help blunt the impact of states’ plummeting revenue due to the economic collapse, according to rollcall.com.
Matthew Schweich, deputy director at the Marijuana Policy Project, said many supporters were already swayed by the revenue marijuana taxes bring in. The dire budget conditions of many states could increasingly become a strong argument in favor of legalization.
“Voters are aware of the fiscal pain that’s already here or coming down the road. I believe they’re seeing marijuana revenue as part of the solution,” he said.
October 22, 2020