Pubdate: Thu, 19 Feb 2015
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Copyright: 2015 The Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.trentonian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006
Author: David Porter, The Associated Press

COALITION PUSHES LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IN NEW JERSEY

NEWARK (AP) - Marijuana should be legalized in New Jersey because 
existing laws waste police resources, unfairly target minorities and 
leave millions of dollars in potential tax revenue unrealized by 
relegating it to the black market, a coalition said Wednesday in 
announcing a public education initiative.

New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform wants to legalize marijuana 
for people over 21, tax it and regulate its distribution. Among the 
groups represented at Wednesday's news conference were the American 
Civil Liberties Union New Jersey, the NAACP State Conference of New 
Jersey and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

NJUMR is focusing its efforts on educating the public about the issue 
first, before seeking a solution through the ballot box or the 
Legislature, said William Caruso, former executive director of the 
state Assembly. Gov. Chris Christie has been an advocate of changing 
drug laws to allow for more opportunities for treatment instead of 
incarceration, but he has consistently opposed marijuana legalization 
and has said he would veto any such bill that arrived on his desk.

"People change their minds," Caruso said. "I'm not saying that's 
where the governor is or will be, but we can't just stop because 
somebody has said, 'This is where I am.' It's our job to create a 
responsible debate. Our goal right now is not the statehouse. Our 
first job is articulate a message to the voting public, the taxpayers 
of this state, about what we're trying to accomplish and why."

Police in New Jersey make more than 21,000 arrests for marijuana 
possession annually, the group said. Those offenses cost about $127 
million to prosecute, according to Richard Smith, president of the 
NAACP New Jersey State Conference.

Marijuana prosecutions affect blacks disproportionately, Smith said: 
Black New Jerseyans are three times more likely than whites to be 
arrested, with potential far-ranging consequences including loss of 
jobs and benefits, loss of student loans and difficulty obtaining 
future employment. Pot arrests also clog courts and distract law 
enforcement officials from more serious crimes, coalition members said.

ACLU New Jersey Director Udi Ofer said that based on comparisons to 
Colorado, which he said reaped between $60 million and $70 million in 
revenue from legal pot sales in that state's first full year of 
legalization, New Jersey could expect $100 million or more.

David Nathan, a Princeton-based psychiatrist and clinical associate 
professor at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, compared 
some of the group's goals to previous efforts to educate children 
about smoking cigarettes - efforts, he said, that have decreased tobacco use.

"That campaign worked, not by making tobacco illegal for adults," he 
said. "It worked by giving kids realistic, evidence-based, scientific 
and appropriate education about the harms of smoking and, frankly, 
making it a lot less cool. That's what we have to do with marijuana."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom