Weedman's stereo has been stolen. We're walking—not particularly quickly—through Trenton, in the heart of New Jersey's state capital, to get to a pawnshop. Hours have passed since 11 AM, when Weedman—a 54-year-old Rastafarian named Ed Forchion—first took the lighter attached to his belt loop and ripped the morning's inaugural bowl. He's had several hits since, and it's become one of those August afternoons that's so hot and humid somebody's bound to bring up climate change.
Edward Forchion is an activist, author, restaurateur, and, most recently, a candidate for the New Jersey Legislature. Forchion, known as NJ Weedman, has been advocating marijuana legalization in the Garden State for more than two decades. Now, at 54, he's running for the New Jersey Assembly in the 15th District, and, if elected come November 6th, he would be able to have a direct influence on the policies he's spent a large chunk of his life promoting.
dePierro states “New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy recently expanded access to the state’s medical marijuana programs and reiterated his desire to legalize marijuana for recreational use. In support of his efforts, the Governor issued “Executive Order 6″ which expedites and relaxes the permitting process for new Distribution Centers. The Executive order also permits the manufacture, processing and sale of edible cannabis products.
Fresh out of prison, the marijuana activist who calls himself "NJWeedman" says he'll oppose the state's push toward legal weed unless the rules are changed to guarantee African-American and Latino entrepreneurs a bigger share of the market.
Ed Forchion joins a growing cadre of pro-marijuana activists in New Jersey who are advocating for minorities to have a significant share of what could be a $1 billion market in growing, distributing and selling legal weed.
Prosecutors in Mercer County have dropped or dismissed the remaining criminal charges against a notorious marijuana activist who spent months in jail before being found not guilty by a jury.
But Ed Forchion, more commonly known as “NJ Weedman,” won’t be lighting up in celebration.
“I kind of feel disappointed. I know most people would be happy,” he said Wednesday after hearing the news from a reporter. “I was looking forward to going to trial. No jury would convict me. It’s all been nothing but a police vendetta against me.”
There’s no law against rubbing people the wrong way, but it seems the Mercer County prosecutor put Ed “NJWeedman” Forchion on trial for it, twice.
Sure, the prosecutor will say that’s not why Forchion, 54, marijuana activist and Pemberton native, was arrested and imprisoned for 15 months, and was unsuccessfully tried twice for witness tampering.
Most people released from a county jail emerge clutching their personal possessions, or maybe carrying them in a bag.
Ed “NJ Weedman” Forchion walked out of the Mercer County Correction Center just before sunset Thursday evening pulling a cart stacked with papers and binders accumulated from his two criminal trials. He was acquitted of witness tampering hours before.
A New Jersey marijuana advocate dubbed NJ Weedman has been acquitted of witness tampering in his retrial.
NJ.com reports that Ed Forchion raised his arms in victory after the verdict Thursday in Mercer County Superior Court. His supporters cheered and he smilingly invited the prosecutor to his victory party.
Forchion, better known as NJ Weedman, was arrested and charged with second- and third-degree witness tampering in March 2017. The charges come nearly a year after police raided his restaurant and "cannabis sanctuary" in Trenton, NJ Weedman’s Joint and the Liberty Bell Temple, in April 2016.
After the drug bust, Forchion was charged with several counts of marijuana-related offenses, but because those charges occurred before the state’s bail reform act, which went into effect in 2017, he was able to post bail and was released pending trial.