Booker Advocates Law Enforcement Rally Support for Landmark Marijuana Justice Bill

LINDEN — U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) was joined by State Senator Nicholas Scutari, advocates and members of the law enforcement community in rallying support for Booker’s landmark bill to end the federal prohibition on marijuana. The Marijuana Justice Act, which Sen. Booker introduced this week, makes marijuana legal at the federal level by removing it from the list of controlled substances.
“America’s failed War on Drugs has disproportionally impacted low-income individuals and communities of color for far too long,” said Sen. Booker. “Our broken marijuana laws have done nothing but jeopardize public safety, squander precious taxpayer dollars and ruin countless lives across New Jersey and our nation. We can no longer stand idly by and allow this injustice to devastate our communities and destroy families. Instead we must continue the chorus of conviction we heard here today and end the federal prohibition on marijuana.”
The Marijuana Justice Act seeks to reverse decades of failed drug policy that disproportionately impacts low-income individuals and people of color. The bill accomplishes this in part by incentivizing states through federal funds to change their marijuana laws if those laws were shown to have a disproportionate effect on low-income individuals and/or people of color. The bill would also retroactively apply to those already serving time behind bars for marijuana offenses.
“The prohibition of marijuana has been counterproductive. It’s ruined countless lives in New Jersey and across the country, wasted billions of dollars in law enforcement resources and made our streets less safe. As a state and as a country, we cannot afford to sacrifice public safety and our residents’ civil rights by continuing ineffective and wasteful marijuana enforcement policies,” said Senator Nicholas P. Scutari (D-Union, Somerset and Middlesex), chair of the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee and sponsor of legislation (S-3195) to legalize the possession and use of small amounts of marijuana in the state. “I want to thank Senator Booker for his leadership and for having the courage to take on legalization at the federal level. I’m glad we have a partner in the effort to end our failed drug laws and a forceful advocate for legalization in Congress.”
“The Marijuana Justice Act does what so many other pieces of legislation have not by requiring us to begin making amends for the decades of damage the drug war has inflicted on low-income communities and communities of color,” said Maj. Neill Franklin (Ret.), 34-year police veteran and executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership. “This is truly a groundbreaking bill, and I am proud to endorse it on behalf of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership.”
“Senator Booker’s legislation sends a clarion call for federal action on marijuana legalization. Drug Policy Alliance, and 60 percent of Americans, support marijuana legalization. In New Jersey, and around the country, marijuana prohibition has disproportionately harmed communities of color,” says Roseanne Scotti, New Jersey State Director for the Drug Policy Alliance. “Nationally, African Americans are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites even though both use marijuana at similar rates. Anecdotal evidence suggests similar disparities for Latinos. Marijuana legalization on the federal and state level must be fair and equitable and must repair past harms to communities of color. It is time to right the wrongs of marijuana prohibition.”
“For decades, our broken marijuana laws have wreaked havoc on our society, disproportionately affecting urban, low income communities of color,” said Richard Smith, President of the NAACP New Jersey State Conference. “We at the NAACP NJ State Conference are proud to support Senator Booker’s work on behalf of our community because not only does the Marijuana Justice Act end the federal prohibition of marijuana, but it encourages robust and much-needed reinvestment in the communities that have been most impacted by the failed War on Drugs.”
According to the New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform, there are more than 21,000 marijuana possession arrests in New Jersey every year, and over 200,000 in the past decade. Nationally, blacks are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as whites are, despite the fact that there’s no difference in marijuana use between the two groups.