The state’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission met again this week to work out the details of New Jersey’s new legal marijuana market. Meanwhile, the judiciary has already vacated or dismissed nearly 88,000 cases just since July 1. All were related to marijuana and hashish convictions or pending cases, following the decriminalization of specific offenses under the new law. Those are the first of about 360,000 cases identified as being eligible for expungement in the coming months. Among the offenses: selling or possessing less than an ounce of marijuana, including in a vehicle, and possession of drug paraphernalia or being under the influence.
NJ dismisses about 88,000 marijuana cases following decriminalization
Anchor
An Emmy award-winning journalist, Briana Vannozzi serves as the anchor for NJ Spotlight News, the newsroom of NJ PBS. She's worked in several capacities since joining the news division in 2012, as interim anchor and senior correspondent after years of general assignment reporting as a multimedia journalist. Vannozzi began her television journalism career by cutting her teeth on New Jersey State House politics for New Jersey Network News, and later as a news radio correspondent at FM News 101.9 covering crime and politics in New York City. Her work has taken her to national presidential nominating conventions, Capitol Hill, up and down the East Coast and every corner of the Garden State. She's interviewed every New Jersey governor dating back to Jon Corzine and moderated numerous political debates and forums. Her work has also earned awards from the New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists and the Philadelphia Press Association. A Burlington County native, she's honored to be serving and covering her home state and raising her family there.