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Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) will chair the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Counterterrorism. A press release on the appointment prominently touts two marijuana bills the senator has sponsored.
The Marijuana Justice Act to federally deschedule cannabis and promote social justice is the very first piece of legislation cited in the release after it notes the senator’s work to make “championing reforms of America’s broken criminal justice system a top priority.” Also mentioned is his separate CARERS Act, which would protect state medical marijuana programs.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and fellow Senators Cory Booker and Ron Wyden formally announced Monday that they are working together to advance comprehensive marijuana reform legislation.
Schumer talked last week about pushing for legislation that would legalize marijuana federally but allow states the freedom to choose their own direction.
In an interview with former NBA basketball player Al Harrington, Schumer also discussed directing tax revenues to minority communities most affected by the war on drugs.
Another one of the most prominent elected officials in New Jersey is urging the state’s voters to approve a marijuana legalization referendum that’s on their ballots next week. Meanwhile, new campaign finance data released by the state shows that supporters of the cannabis reform measure are outraising opponents by more than a 200-to-1 ratio.
Registered voters in New Jersey are expected to vote in favor of adult-use marijuana legalization in November — but uncertainty surrounds the pending legislation.
"Cannabis advocates looking forward to creating an adult use regulated and taxed cannabis marketplace have reason to be cautiously optimistic as we approach the consideration of the issue in the form of a public question on the ballot for the voters in November," says Charles Gormally, co-chair of the Brach Eichler LLC cannabis practice group.
Part of that truth is that racial disparities have long existed within the U.S. criminal justice system, and an example of that is the disparate enforcement of cannabis criminalization against minority communities, Booker said in the Friday interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
The poll will also include a polling data on a November ballot question to legalize recreational marijuana.
In addition, the Monmouth Poll will include a generic ballot test of candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, with a focus on the four congressional districts that flipped from Republican to Democratic in the 2018 mid-term elections. These are the seats currently held by Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), Andy Kim (D-Marlton), Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes) and Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair).
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said on Wednesday that access to medical marijuana for patients should be prioritized amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked about reported shortages of cannabis at dispensaries in his home state of New Jersey, Booker said “I’m one of the leaders on lifting the federal restrictions on marijuana usage” in the Senate and “I’ve been pushing for it in the state.”
After a meeting with black millennial leaders and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), I visited one of my closest friends who lives in a quaint apartment complex in a D.C. suburb. Attempting to decompress from the conversation about mass incarceration, gender equity, and bail bonds, I found myself zoned in on Maryland foliage swaying gently from a spring breeze. My attention was then captured by children traversing the courtyard of the complex with elevated voices and sheer excitement. The children were unfazed by the economic limitations characteristic of the neighborhood.
Lock your doors, shut your blinds and hide your kids. There’s a danger lurking about that’s menacing suburban, rural and urban communities alike: hypocritical politicians trying to get rich off the nation’s burgeoning marijuana industry.
Beware. The list is long and growing.
In the fight to legalize pot, enthusiasts have largely pointed to the unjust demonization of the drug itself. Weed is no more harmful than alcohol, the argument goes, so why not tax it and regulate it the same way? That logic has carried the day in nearly a dozen pot-legal states from Alaska to California to Maine.
