Although he has fought for legalization, he opposes SB 830, expected to reach Murphy's desk sometime in 2019. The bill legalizes possession and personal use of small amounts of marijuana for adults 21 and older, creates Division of Marijuana Enforcement, and a licensing structure.
“I don't think there's very much diversity in this bill,” Forchion told Weedmaps News. “We know who's going to get the licenses, going to get the dispensaries, going to be able to sell marijuana to the people. I call them the Caucasian cannabis corporations, the CCCs.”
Forchion argued that high licensing costs and other limitations in the bill will hand the nascent legal marijuana industry to the groups with the deepest pockets.
“There is a black market. We've been the ones supplying the state's potheads for decades,” he said. “We're not going anywhere.”
Forchion has launched a social media campaign with the hashtag #sellweedlikeimwhite. If the legalization bill passes, he said, he plans to flout the law, challenging the state to find a jury that will convict him of something now legal for large corporations.
“We will still go to jail. We will still get arrested because we're not buying weed from the white guys,” he said. “All of these big, rich white guys, they get to grow weed with the protection of the state against the federal government. It's a textbook example of unequal protection of the law.”