In a speech the governor delivered on Tuesday (March 13), in which he announced his new budget, Murphy said he calculated the numbers based on the assumption that cannabis will be legalized.
“According to research, New Jersey spends upwards of $140 million per year adjudicating low-level marijuana possession offenses,” Murphy said. “And, marijuana-related arrest rates are tilted three-to-one against African-Americans, even though rates of marijuana use are similar among races.”
Murphy went on to point out what many across the county have been saying for years and what the Department of Justice admitted to over the weekend: that the money used to enforce marijuana laws could be more effective if spent elsewhere.
“These resources must have a better use,” Murphy continued, “whether to tackle the trafficking of illegal guns, provide stronger community policing, or to crack the back of our opioid epidemic, which was devastating our urban centers long before it made headlines.”