Now, the DPA-led New Solutions Campaign, a broad coalition of New Jersey-based advocacy groups, is on the brink of helping enact a new law that would allow broad legal cannabis sales in the state.
The New Jersey coalition has focused on civil rights and an equitable approach to the cannabis industry. The political wind is at their back: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy ran on legalizing cannabis during his 2017 campaign, framing it as a Civil Rights-era wrong.
But there's a small, growing movement among cities in legal marijuana states to either reduce sentences or expunge marijuana-related charges from before the laws changed.
“We’ve shifted public opinion so broadly on marijuana ... but we’ve got to also do something about those who have been arrested, incarcerated or otherwise penalized for possession, or use or sale,” says Chris Alexander, the New York policy coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance.
As marijuana legalization spreads into various states, some are allowing people who’d been previously been convicted of possession of a small amount of pot to clear their records.
They have their convictions either wiped off their record forever under state expungement laws or, in some cases, have low-level felony marijuana convictions be reduced to misdemeanors. In another variation, a marijuana conviction can be sealed from public view pursuant to a court order under a state’s nondisclosure law.
On Thursday, March 8th, the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Woodbury, Gloucester County NAACP and the Drug Policy Alliance will host, “Marijuana Legalization: Faith, Facts & Fiction,” at 7:00 pm at Bethel AME Church (32 Courtland Street, Woodbury, NJ 08096).
The argument for legalization is centered on the idea that marijuana prohibition laws have not only failed to stop people from using marijuana and created a black market, but also that states are paying an inordinate amount of money to incarcerate individuals for possession of even a small amount of pot. Indeed, according to recent estimates, New Jersey shells out approximately $127 million per year on marijuana possession enforcement costs; money that advocates say could be better spent on other needs.