The governor of New Jersey wants voters to approve a marijuana legalization referendum that will appear on the state’s ballot in November—and he’s letting people know that at seemingly every opportunity he can.
In his latest remarks, delivered on the Bloomberg Surveillance program on Sunday, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) stressed that the primary goal of enacting the policy change is to promote social equity, but he also recognized that it represents a potential source of significant tax revenue for the state.
“I wish we could have gotten it done through a legislative process,” he said, referencing lawmakers’ inability to advance a legalization bill last session. “We just couldn’t find the last few votes, so it’s on the referendum. I’m strongly supporting it—first and foremost for social justice reasons.”
“Low-end drug crimes are the biggest reason, by far, that we have young persons of color, especially young men of color, in our criminal justice system,” he added. “Beyond that, this is a potential significant, over time, revenue item for the state and a source of job growth, which are also positives. I hope we’ll see it pass in November.”