He’s the lawmaker who’s getting the credit — or, in some circles, the blame — for derailing the effort to pass a law legalizing recreational use of marijuana, pushing hard instead for decriminalization.
And Sen. Ron Rice is straight up about what he thinks of the two-year effort to add New Jersey to the list of states where weed is legal.
State Senator Rice released an op-ed on the 4th of July, in which he made a plea to his peers in the New Jersey State Legislature to prioritize decriminalization-
“We can make this happen and put our state at the vanguard of social justice in America. We can infuse our independence with a deeper level of freedom grounded in real justice for all. We can give the Fourth of July even greater meaning and let our fireworks reflect our own impossible formations of brilliance that make us one vibrant, colorful nation.”
On May 1, 2019, the City of Newark Municipal Council adopted Ordinance 18-1970 (the "Ordinance") by a 7-0 vote amending several sections of the City’s Land Development Ordinance to permit as conditional uses medical marijuana alternative treatment centers, medical marijuana cultivation facilities, medical marijuana manufacturing facilities, and medical marijuana safety compliance facilities (collectively, the “Medical Marijuana Uses”) in specified zoning districts within the City. The majority of the public who attended the hearing were in support of the amendment. Hon.
The council has flip-flopped on the issue several times. In August, the council passed a resolution that welcomed and supported medical marijuana dispensaries. However, the actual land use ordinance to allow such facilities couldn’t get enough votes at two previous council meetings.
Mayor Ras J. Baraka today expressed his concerns about the pending bill to legalize Cannabis sales and use in New Jersey and called for complete expungement of Cannabis offenses, in testimony before the State Assembly Appropriations Committee, at the State Capitol in Trenton.
Fresh Cannabis, Newark's first medical marijuana dispensary, opened its doors Friday after two years of preparation.
“The residents of Newark and its surrounding areas have been forced to travel far distances to purchase medical cannabis, and we're excited to be able to provide premium product at a much closer location,” said Aaron Epstein, executive vice president for the dispensary's parent company, Compassionate Care Research Institute.
With rumblings that New Jersey legislators could vote to legalize marijuana for recreational use within the next month, interest in launching cannabis businesses in the Garden State has never been higher.
Ellie Siegel, a Philadelphia lawyer and cannabis consultant, wants to ensure that minorities and women get a chance to participate in the state’s emerging weed economy. Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York and Maryland are also weighing legalizing marijuana this year for adult use.
A full legalization bill in the works in the state legislature will not receive the support of at least two mayors if the final legislation doesn’t provide for the expungements of possession and distribution of up to 50 grams of cannabis, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) said.
Baraka and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop (D) said at a press conference that they would exercise their municipal authority and ban dispensaries from operating in their cities if they aren’t satisfied with expungement language in legalization legislation.
To help facilitate social change, the commission will give preference to cannabis business who apply for licenses in what the bill labels “impact zones,” which are defined as areas “for which past criminal marijuana enterprises contributed to higher concentrations of law enforcement activity, unemployment, and poverty.” An impact zone must have a population at least 120,000 people, a high crime index as measured by the State Police, an annual average unemployment rate of 15 percent, and rank in the top 33 percent for marijuana- or hashish-related arrests.
Construction worker Crystal Gibson of Newark plans to build a future and a fortune beyond her 9 to 5 job, so she came to learn how to start a marijuana business in a state moving toward adult legalization.
“A lot of times we think living in an urban area that it’s impossible or we’re incapable of making our dreams come true, or we just don’t even know what direction to start in order to get that financial security,” Gibson said.