Support For NJ Pot Decriminalization Builds In Essex County – Belleville, NJ Patch
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Support for marijuana decriminalization in New Jersey continues to build among elected officials in Essex County.
Last week, the Essex County Board of Commissioners passed a symbolic resolution in favor of S-2535, a proposed state law that would put a stop to thousands of low-level pot arrests. If passed, the law would fine New Jersey residents $25 for possessing less than a pound of marijuana.
Under the current law, marijuana possession offenders can be hit with up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
It’s not just jail time that would change under the proposed law, according to the board of commissioners. If passed, the bill would:
- Eliminate parole revocation based on the decriminalized conduct of testing positive for cannabis
- Eliminate an employer’s ability to consider such convictions as a condition of employment
- Prevent mortgage loan discrimination, regardless of when the arrest or conviction occurred
“People who have been convicted of marijuana offenses should have the opportunity to move forward with their lives,” Commissioner At-Large Rufus Johnson said.
Johnson, who initiated the board’s resolution, emphasized that the bill wouldn’t make marijuana legal – only lessen the penalties. But it would still make a big difference for the people who are being saddled with criminal records for being arrested with a small amount of pot.
“Currently, marijuana criminalization disproportionately harms young people, poor people, and people of color, and we must ensure these communities are not left behind,” Johnson said. “Our state has one of the highest marijuana arrest rates in the nation. Although other groups use marijuana at the same levels, unfortunately, people of color are targeted and taken to jail 3½ times the rate of their white counterparts, showing the disparity.”
Board President Brendan Gill said he hopes the state Senate brings the bill up for a vote in a timely fashion.
“S-2535 is a comprehensive bill that addresses many areas of our society’s changing viewpoint around marijuana and its regulation,” Gill said.
The primary sponsors of S-2535 have deep connections to Essex County, including Sen. Ronald Rice (District 28), who represents Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Irvington, Newark and Nutley, and Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz (District 29), who represents Belleville and Newark, as well as Sen. Sandra Cunningham (District 31), who graduated from Bloomfield College.
Earlier this month, Rice lambasted Legislative leaders for the lack of progress on the bill, saying that justice was being delayed for roughly 100 New Jersey residents who are arrested every day for a minor marijuana offenses.
“It was bad enough when we started this fight, but in today’s environment, if offenders survive the arrest without being shot on the street, they are at peril of being incarcerated in crowded prisons during the coronavirus pandemic,” Rice wrote in a Sept. 2 letter to Senate President Steve Sweeney.
“Enough is enough,” Rice concluded.
New Jersey voters will decide the fate of legalizing recreational marijuana in the 2020 general election, which is taking place mostly via mail due to the coronavirus pandemic. But in the meanwhile, Garden State residents continue to go to prison for possessing weed.
Every year, police make over 30,000 marijuana-related arrests in New Jersey — among the highest of any state in the nation, Garden State NORML recently reported.
Last year, the ACLU of New Jersey released a report that examined the state’s 2016 and 2017 crime data. Researchers found that someone is arrested for marijuana possession in New Jersey every 15 minutes, a rate that has increased over the past decade.
The state reportedly spends about $127 million per year on cannabis possession enforcement.
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