As co-founder of Oakland-based Hood Incubator, Ifedigbo sees the launch of a new legal cannabis industry as a “perfect opportunity” to build economic and political power in black and brown communities.
A New Jersey assemblywoman will propose three bills aimed at social justice and economic opportunities should the Garden State legalize recreational cannabis, NJ Advance Media has learned.
Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-Union), the chairwoman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee and deputy majority leader, plans to introduce her bills Monday.
I am a Christian pastor in New Jersey and support the legalization of cannabis in service of growing justice and democracy for all. Marked by alarming racial disparities, the state of New Jersey incarcerates black residents at 12 times the rate of its white residents — a symptom of the national drug war and the intersectional practices of policing poverty and criminalizing non-white communities. However, New Jersey now appears to be next to navigate the economically enterprising possibilities of cannabis legalization.
Murphy successfully avoided the question throughout the election season and had remained elusive even when he become the New Jersey governor. But now it seems he’s willing to put the question to bed for good. He took to Twitter last week to reveal what many had been wondering.
“Here’s the deal: I’ve tried marijuana literally once or twice many years ago, and I don’t have any desire to partake again,” Murphy tweeted. “But this effort isn’t about me—this is about social justice.”
On Monday, The Record reported Murphy is open to the idea. And a reporter asked the Democratic governor at an unrelated news event hours later if he'd consider "wide-sweeping pardons" -- and if that would happen before weed is legalized.
Murphy replied that he didn't know about timing or if they'd be broad. But yes, he said, he's considering pardons.