After lawmakers moved Monday to add a constitutional amendment to legalize adult use marijuana in New Jersey, voters will have the opportunity to decide with a ballot question before them in November 2020.

The measure, ACR-840, sponsored by Assembly Democrats Annette Quijano, D-Union; Jamel Holley, D-Union; Britnee N. Timberlake, D-Essex; and Angela McKnight, D-Hudson, passed the full Assembly by a 49-24-1 vote just before 7 p.m. Monday.

The Senate version, SCR-183, sponsored by Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Middlesex, and Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, also passed its respective chamber by a vote of 24-16.

The issue will now be put before voters as a question on the 2020 ballot after having achieved the required three-fifths majority of votes in both the Senate and Assembly this year.

"I believe, with this constitutional amendment, we have listened to the will of the majority of New Jerseyans and taken a common-sense approach to regulation of cannabis," Quijano said in a statement after the Assembly passed the resolution. "This is a new arena for New Jersey law and one that we hope will protect citizens, support communities and create a new economic driver for the state."

The referendum's passage came just days after a public hearing by the Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee on Dec. 12 where supporters and opponents gave one final shot to get their voices heard on the initiative, which if accepted by voters would amend the state Constitution to allow for recreational marijuana use by those 21 and over.

Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, pushed hard to legalize adult-use marijuana through legislation in order to ameliorate what he described as social injustices, particularly with the high incarceration rate among blacks for nonviolent, low-level drug offenses, such as marijuana and hash possession.

Murphy pushed for expungement of minor marijuana offenses as a key part of the bill.

But the revised 300-plus-page New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory and Expungement Aid Modernization Act failed to muster enough Senate support to reach a floor vote last spring. Regional differences and internecine squabbles among senators, as well as a rift between Murphy and Sweeney over tax incentives, led to the weed bill's ultimate collapse in mid-May.

On Nov. 18, when it was announced lawmakers would push for a ballot question to put the issue before voters, Murphy said that although the referendum route wasn't his first choice, he could live with it.

"I am disappointed that we are not able to get this done legislatively and that our failed status quo—which sends roughly 600 people to jail a week for possession, the majority of them people of color—will continue," he said then.

"However, I have faith that the people of New Jersey will put us on the right side of history when they vote next November," Murphy added. "By approving this ballot measure before the end of this legislative session, New Jersey will move one step closer to righting a historical wrong and achieving what I have spent more than three years advocating for."

Supporters and sponsors of the resolution say social justice reform remains one of the key ends to legalizing weed and that a constitutional referendum could represent the means to achieve it.

"A key component to cannabis legalization was addressing social justice concerns. The fact that Black New Jerseyans are three or four times more likely to be arrested on cannabis charges has contributed to the disenfranchisement of black communities," Assemblyman Holley said. "Should voters approve this constitutional amendment at the ballot box in November of 2020, there would unprecedented opportunity for residents to clean the slate with expungement provisions and for communities to grow their economic base with businesses. This is a long time coming."

But opponents pushed back just as hard, contending that legalizing nonmedical cannabis was sending mixed signals.

Currently, Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts and Michigan have legalized adult-use marijuana that allows for cultivating and selling cannabis through a regulated market. Vermont and Washington, D.C., allow for growing cannabis, but prohibit its sale.

"Today, the New Jersey Legislature voted to place a constitutional amendment on the 2020 ballot to legalize and commercialize marijuana in the state," Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and its affiliate, New Jersey Responsible Approaches to Marijuana Policy, said in a statement Monday. Sabet testified at last week's public hearing to sway lawmakers away from the referendum.

"In the middle of a crippling vaping crisis, it is unconscionable to change the New Jersey constitution to allow the commercial sales of unlimited potency THC [Tetrahydrcocannabinol]  products. This is not decriminalization," Sabet said. "This measure will increase profits for Big Tobacco, Big Pharma and Big Alcohol, while leaving our kids behind. Though we will be severely out funded, we will fight this initiative with science and reason."

The Cannabis Regulatory Commission, created to oversee the medical cannabis program, would also oversee and regulate the new adult use market, according to the Senate resolution.

"We will now move forward with a plan that helps correct social and legal injustices that have had a discriminatory impact on communities of color," Sweeney said after the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on the resolution earlier this month. "We can make real progress towards social justice at the same time that cannabis is made safe and legal."