Gov. Murphy’s ‘Buy Legal’ campaign entangled with Big Weed, contradicting pledge to boost small businesses

Gov. Phil Murphy as he signs into law legislation to set up a recreational marijuana marketplace, Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, in Trento. (Edwin J. Torres/New Jersey Governor's Office via AP) AP

When Gov. Phil Murphy announced his office’s new campaign to buy legal weed in November, it did so with a lobbying group that’s been criticized for putting corporate interests above the social justice they and the Murphy administration sells to the public.

The marketing campaign, dubbed “Buy Legal,” was done largely in conjunction with the U.S. Cannabis Council, a national lobbying arm led by a senior vice president of one of the nation’s and New Jersey’s largest cannabis operator, Curaleaf.

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