NJ lawmakers ready to pot and roll (a joint) with legal marijuana
High-ho, high-ho, it’s off to Colorado for a marijuana legalization fact-finding mission nine members of the New Jersey state legislature did go, they don’t have the time because they’re really, really high, high-ho! Highho, high-ho, highho …
And just like that, New Jersey is going to legalize marijuana come 2018. I called it last year at this time, and now, it’s a foregone conclusion. I’m not even playing here; pot will be legalized in New Jersey in less than two years, period, stop, the end. Our Next Governor Phil Murphy supports legalization, and I’m not putting words in his mouth. “I support legalization,” the Murphman said two weeks ago during a town hall in Rutherford.
This puts him in a place 100 percent opposite our current governor, Chris “Buzzkill” Christie, who has said he’d never legalize marijuana. Not putting words, etc. “Never, as long as I’m governor,” he said on 101.5’s “Ask The Governor.”
Not only is Murphy on board with legalizing it, so is 58 percent of New Jerseyans, according to a RutgersEagleton poll last year. I can only imagine the next time we’re asked, the number will be higher.
And now, as we sit here arguing who should get up to get the bong, nine members of the New Jersey legislature — from both sides of the political divide and led by led by Sen. Nicholas Scutari are in Colorado as part of a five-day fact finding mission to see just how, exactly, Colorado does this whole legalization thing.
I had one very important question for Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon, who’s part of the trip: How many of the nine have gotten wasted?
“I haven’t seen anyone partake,” O’Scanlon said. “Or brag about it.”
O’Scanlon — who won the hearts of New Jersey residents when he led the charge to ban red light cameras a few years back — said he’s “keeping an open mind” about legalization but that his “gut feeling” is yes, as long as there’s a governor willing to sign the bill, marijuana will be legalized in The Garden State. (It’s going to be quite a garden.)
So. All good, right? I’ve been in favor of legalization since before I could drive. (Full disclosure: I used to smoke marijuana. A lot of it. Probably a small mountain’s worth. But I’ve only smoked once since 1999. If it becomes legal here, I’d probably try it again. You know, as a journalistic exercise.)
Of course, as with any silver linings, there are bound to be a few touches of grey, most notably the fact New Jersey has been locking people up for marijuana possession charges at a stupid rate. In fact, as of 2013, there were twice the number of people charged with possession in the state as there were in 1993, and there are three times as many minorities jailed for marijuana than whites.
I can attest to half of that equation: In my misspent youth, I was caught with small amounts of marijuana twice. Both times, the officer disregarded his findings. While I obviously cannot say the following with any certainty, I think it’s fair to say if I were black and 18 and pulled over in a suburban town with weed, the results would have been different.
Legislators in New Jersey are going to be patting themselves on the back after they legalize weed. As well they should.
But if they do this without expunging the records of people who were arrested for marijuana possession, if they do this without releasing anyone in prison for marijuana possession, without immediately dropping all pending charges of people facing marijuana charges, they’d be doing it wrong. Immorally so.
“(Assemblyman) Michael Patrick Carroll’s legislation addresses that, I believe,” O’Scanlon said. “I would see a path to do that. Of course, there is a fair debate over whether people breaking the law as it is at any given time should have some culpability, but we don’t want to have a legacy of destroyed lives over this.” Let’s hope O’Scanlon is right. The state’s leaders are going to have to figure this out. It would be a disgusting double standard to see people get rich off the coming green rush while tens of thousands of New Jerseyans — mostly minorities — suffer the stigma of prosecution. What’s right is right. I’ve got a lot more to say about this issue, specifically the “how” of New Jersey should do this. I’d also like to hear your ideas. To be continued.