Expungement clinics. School buses. Wheelchair ramps. Cannabis community centers. Training for rookie entrepreneurs. Grants and no-interest loans.
The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission heard all sorts of ideas Wednesday night from 15 people during an hourlong virtual public hearing held to solicit input for how the state should spend tax revenue from the new recreational marijuana market when sales eventually begin.
The commission also heard plenty of ideas on how they should not spend the money.
“Funding for law enforcement under the guise of community reinvestment is not what we are looking for,” said Ami Kachalia, a campaign strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. “We want real community reinvestment that supports the kinds of needs — things like social services and harm reduction and educational support and economic development — that truly increase access to opportunity for New Jerseyans and help communities thrive.”
When lawmakers legalized recreational weed a year ago — following voter approval in November 2020 — they decreed 70% of revenue raised from the recreational market should go to “social equity investments” in “impact zones,” meaning socially and economically disadvantaged communities that have been most harmed by the failed war on drugs.