The Garden State has a whole new meaning now.
The wait is finally over. New Jersey has officially become the 13th state in the United States of America to legalize marijuana. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law three bills putting into effect a ballot question overwhelmingly supported by voters last year.
Although stoners and potheads alike are lighting up with joy at this very exciting turn of events for New Jersey’s weed connoisseurs, the real exciting news is the hope for the decriminalization of marijuana and the freedom of those who have been jailed on petty charges.
New Jersey became the the first Mid-Atlantic state to renounce decades of weed arrests in favor of a program that focuses on wrongful marijuana charges led by social activists.
“It marks the end of tens of thousands of weed arrests annually and the beginning of a cannabis industry that could be an economic boom for the state and region,” according to NJ.com.
Currently, the only other states on the east coast to legalize weed are Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts.