Pubdate: Mon, 21 May 2012
Source: Times, The (Trenton, NJ)
Copyright: 2012 The Times
Contact:  http://www.nj.com/times/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/458
Author: George Amick

CHANGING POT LAW IN JERSEY

The Assembly Judiciary Committee today will hold a first-ever hearing
on a bill to decriminalize possession of a small amount of marijuana
and make it a summary offense similar to a parking ticket. It's only a
modest step. Because this is New Jersey, however, where official
attitudes toward drug use have been puritanical, it's noteworthy.

The bill, A1465, sponsored by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Trenton)
and 17 co-sponsors, would make possession of 15 grams or less of pot
punishable by a fine of $150 for a first violation, $200 for a second
violation and $500 for a third. Right now, possession of this amount
is a disorderly persons offense, carrying a punishment of up to a
$1,000 fine and six months in jail. A conviction also results in a
criminal record that can't be expunged for at least five years.

That's draconian punishment for a victimless act that experts say is
far less hazardous to society than the widespread -- and legal --
practice of drinking alcohol.

And the punishment is one that keeps on taking: A conviction can make
it much harder to obtain or keep a job, public housing, public
assistance, federal student aid for college, and even a basic driver's
license. New Jerseyans understand this, as shown by an Eagleton poll
last November that found that 58 percent of residents believe
penalties for use of marijuana should be reduced and 55 percent think
penalties for possession should be eliminated entirely.

But laws are made and administered by politicians, on whose watch New
Jersey was the last state to allow users of intravenous drugs a way to
legally obtain clean needles that would stem the spread of HIV/AIDS
and other blood-borne diseases.

Even now, nearly 2= years after enactment of a law allowing the use of
marijuana for medical purposes, bureaucratic foot-dragging has delayed
the sale of pot to a single suffering patient.

It isn't easy to find good sense, not to mention compassion, in the
state's drug policies. A marijuana-decriminalization bill was
introduced in the last legislative session and remained buried. How
did the sponsors manage to win a hearing for this one?

"We're seeing a real tipping point in terms of people's attitudes,"
said Roseanne Scotti, New Jersey director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

"The process of passing the medical marijuana act showed what
incredibly broad support there is for these kinds of changes. A lot of
legislators have heard from their constituents about people whose
lives were severely damaged by having a marijuana conviction, even for
a small amount. People are telling their elected officials that the
punishment doesn't fit the offense, that it's too severe. The
officials have been behind the curve on this, but they're beginning to
follow the people."

Today's hearing will call attention to the damage done by the existing
law and advance the conversation about changing it, Scotti predicted.
"More than 22,000 individuals were arrested for marijuana possession
in New Jersey in 2010," she said.

"It's absurd, morally and economically, to use precious
law-enforcement resources to arrest people and drag them down to the
station and book them and prosecute them for half an ounce of
marijuana, at a time when we're laying off police officers" -- and,
she could have added, when Trenton cops can't even patrol Stuyvesant
Avenue at night without being fired on by a would-be assassin. "The
police should be focusing on serious offenses where people are harmed,
and not be asked to arrest people for this kind of thing."

Bill A1465 is anything but radical, compared to marijuana
decriminalization laws already on the books in 14 other states.

"Only one or two of those states have decriminalized possession of as
little as 15 grams, the amount in our bill," Scotti noted.

Mississippi -- Mississippi! -- allows up to one ounce, slightly more
than double the amount New Jersey is considering. Ohio, a basically
conservative state, allows three ounces.

Those who oppose sensible drug policies tend to be Republicans, which
is odd, given the party's proclaimed opposition to government
intrusion in people's lives. But the lines aren't sharply partisan.
A1465 has three GOP co-sponsors: Declan O'Scanlon of Little Silver,
Carolyn Casagrande of Colts Neck and Michael Patrick Carroll of Morris
Township.

Carroll also was a co-sponsor, with Gusciora, of the medical-marijuana
bill. National Republican luminaries such as former Secretary of State
George Shultz and former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker have
advocated decriminalization for years, while, locally, former Mercer
County Executive and Superior Court Judge Bill Mathesius has spoken
out for change.

A1465 stands a good chance of being released from committee -- four of
the seven committee members are co-sponsors -- and of passing the
Assembly, where Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Newark) has said she'd allow
it to come to a vote. That would represent remarkable progress.

This is still New Jersey, however, and whether the bill will receive
the final push and be enacted into law is anybody's guess.
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MAP posted-by: Matt