A few weeks ago, Gov. Phil Murphy met with a group of journalists to talk about the highs and lows of his first year. It didn’t take long for him to reaffirm how high-spirited he still was about his plan to legalize marijuana.
What was striking, however, was Murphy's line of reasoning.
Murphy said one of his primary goals in supporting legislation to decriminalize pot in New Jersey was "the social justice lens."
Simply put, Murphy feels that a disproportionate number of African-American men are arrested in pot busts by police and eventually imprisoned, often with sentences that seem overly cruel. The result is their lives are essentially ruined. Saddled with a criminal record, many cannot land decent jobs or housing.