With positions hardening by the day in New Jersey, it may be worth considering a third option, which I believe threads the proverbial needle between Rice's position favoring decriminalization and full-scale commercialized legalization embodied by Colorado's initiative and various pending bills in the New Jersey Legislature.
Galvanized by a desire to reduce the racially disproportionate impact of the war on drugs, on Nov. 4, 2014, voters in the District of Columbia approved a referendum that fully legalized -- imposed no penalties whatsoever on personal possession of up to two ounces of marijuana and the cultivation of up to six plants in their homes.
As a direct result, marijuana possession arrests decreased by an astonishing 98 percent from 2014 to 2015, dropping from 1,840 to just 32. The commercialized sale of marijuana, that is, marijuana commercially cultivated and sold at retail dispensaries, remains illegal.
Just this past January, the Republican governor of Vermont signed legislation that eliminated all penalties -- both civil and criminal -- for possession by anyone 21 or older of one ounce or less of marijuana and two mature and four immature marijuana plants. That is, the law retains criminal penalties for possession, dispensing and sale of larger amounts of marijuana. Importantly, the Vermont Legislature in the same bill expressed its intention to subsequently "adopt a comprehensive regulatory structure for legalizing and licensing the marijuana market."
In other words, Vermont contemplates a tiered or incremental approach to full scale commercialized marijuana legalization to best address the valid issues identified by Fuentes, Rice and others across the spectrum.
Indeed, Vermont commissioned the highly regarded Rand Corporation to undertake a comprehensive data-intensive study of the costs and benefits to the state of full-scale legalization. Doubtless, this thorough report will serve as an invaluable touchstone for policy makers and the general public as the state moves forward.