State Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Linden) likes to tell the story of the dinner party he attended years ago, when he had just arrived in Trenton.

“I said to the table, ‘I’m going to legalize marijuana in the state of New Jersey someday, and they laughed at me and laughed,’” said Scutari, who is also the city prosecutor in Linden and chairman of the Union County Democratic Committee.

“Now, we’re on the precipice of actually doing it," said Scutari during a marathon week of meetings with fellow legislators and Gov. Phil Murphy about his recreational weed bill. 

No one is laughing at Scutari now. Having also authored the bill that made medical marijuana legal in New Jersey in 2010, he's now the industry darling, and it shows in the amount of money lobbyists, cannabis companies and doctors have poured into his election campaigns.

In the last three years, the marijuana industry has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Scutari and other elected officials who are leading the charge on legalization, according to data filed with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Scutari’s contributions come from various sources:

• $1,000 from the Breakwater Treatment and Wellness Center medical marijuana dispensary in Cranbury;
• $2,600 from the California-based website, Weedmaps Media, Inc.;
• $5,000 from the NJ CannaBusiness Association’s political action committee.

Scutari said he appreciates the support; few people made contributions in a decade ago, when they thought his idea sounded outrageous. But, he says the dollars don't change where he stands. 

“Is there any influence as to me, absolutely out of the question,” he said.

The rise of the cannabis industry has created an entirely new source of money for political candidates and parties across the nation.  The marijuana industry spent less than $5,000 lobbying on the federal level in 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks federal spending. By in 2017, it jumped to $1.8 million.

It’s still a small figure compared to Big Pharma, which has already spent $95 million in the first half of this year on federal lobbying. But as spending grows, it raises questions as to whether special interests, including groups from outside New Jersey, are shaping how the state legalizes marijuana.

But Scott Rudder, executive director of the New Jersey Cannabusiness Association, said the industry is too small to wield undue influence. He's a former legislator who now also works as a lobbyist for the public affairs firm Burton Trent.

“This is not Big Pharma,” Rudder said. “In New Jersey, on the cannabis side of things, it’s a very small industry. We have six dispensaries. That’s it.”

It's not just legislative sponsors of marijuana legalization who are seeing the uptick in contributions.  The New Jersey State Democratic Committee got $4,000 last year from the Terra Tech Corporation, which has been lobbying in New Jersey and New York.  The California-based marijuana company also gave $1,300 each to Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin. Both are Democrats who support legalization and will determine whether the bill gets to a floor vote.

Governor Phil Murphy, who campaigned on a promise to legalize weed, got $4,300 each last year from NJCannaPAC, and from Beth Stavola, a Red Bank mom who is an executive at the Canadian-based cannabis company MPX Bioceutical Corp.

One of the most prolific donors is the Compassionate Care Research Institute — a non-profit that operates the Garden State Dispensary in Woodbridge.  It’s one of six medical marijuana dispensaries licensed to sell marijuana to patients in the state.

In April, it gave $25,000 to the Union County Democratic Committee, the organization Scutari chairs.

Some of Compassionate Care’s contributions seem strategically timed. It gave $2,600 to Cartaret Mayor Dan Reiman's re-election fund on Feb. 21 — the same day the mayor was quoted in the local paper he’d be open to having a dispensary in his town.

On March 5, Compassionate Care gave $2,600 to State Assemblyman Joseph Danielsen, the same day Danielsen chaired the state’s first major hearing on legalizing recreational marijuana.

Compassionate Care’s management did not respond to requests for an interview.

Many of the contributions come from lobbyists from established public affairs firms in Trenton that now represent outside groups looking to break in.  They need insiders who can guide the cannabis industry on the details of what New Jersey's marijuana legislation will look like.

Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship in Glassboro, N.J.,  said it's still unclear how much the state plans to tax marijuana, how many dispensaries will be allowed, and whether people with past marijuana convictions will be allowed to participate.

“In the fight for marijuana legalization, it’s the wild west. People don’t know what the rules are going to be.”