LEADING MARIJUANA POLICY ORGANIZATIONS APPLAUD BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION ADDRESSING SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES SURROUNDING MARIJUANA
Contact: Jeanette Hoffman, 908-418-0859
LEADING MARIJUANA POLICY ORGANIZATIONS APPLAUD BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION ADDRESSING SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES SURROUNDING MARIJUANA
TRENTON, NJ — Today, New Jersey Responsible Approaches to Marijuana and Smart Approaches to Marijuana officials joined Senator Ron Rice, Senator Robert Singer, legislators, and coalition members in supporting legislation that removes criminal penalties for low-level marijuana use and refers users to treatment.
“Non-violent drug offenders – regardless of the drug – should not be saddled with criminal records that would jeopardize their recovery and reintegration into our communities,” said Representative Patrick Kennedy, honorary chair of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM).
A recent Farleigh Dickinson University poll found support for legalization is slipping. That poll found only a minority of New Jersey voters supported legalization when given other options such as decriminalization.
Bishop Jethro James, President of the Newark/North Jersey Committee of Black Churchmen who served on Gov. Murphy’s transition team, stated, “Marijuana legalization is not the step forward for social justice. In fact, it’s just the opposite, as the marijuana industry routinely targets vulnerable communities as its profit centers. Just take a look at Denver, where the number of pot shops littering the city is greater than the number of McDonalds and Starbucks combined.”
“This proposed legislation is the beginning of criminal justice reform,” James continued. “However, any amount of marijuana is not acceptable to our community, for it will only lead to greater drug abuse and criminal activity.”
“At a time when the commercial marijuana industry is putting extreme pressure on New Jersey lawmakers to legalize recreational marijuana, we applaud Senators Rice and Singer for offering this alternative and meaningfully tackling social justice reforms,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, founder of SAM and its partner NJ-RAMP. Dr. Sabet is a former drug policy advisor to President Obama.
Sabet noted that according to the Colorado Department of Public Safety, the number of Hispanic and African American kids arrested for marijuana-related offenses rose 29 and 58 percent two years after Colorado legalized it. In the same period, the number of white kids being arrested for identical crimes dropped eight percent.
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