Poll: New Jersey Residents Want the Legalization of Cannabis

By JR
Last updated on

First, it was the decriminalization of cannabis, now the rest of the population of New Jersey is looking forward to its complete legalization.

New Jersey has been looking forward to becoming the next state to finally legalize cannabis.

According to a poll, New Jersey residents would certainly allow for the legalization of the plant.

Monmouth University was the institution that administered the poll which delivered the result that 60 percent of the residents of the state will support any move that would make recreational cannabis legal. Participants in the poll believed that it would be beneficial to the state’s economy.

On the other hand, 20 percent of the residents think that it will have no effect, in any way to the state and about 16 percent contradicted what the 60 percent said and insists that it will definitely hurt New Jersey’s economy.

This shows a big difference from the previous poll earlier this year which showed that only 49 percent of New Jerseys residents supported the legalization of cannabis.

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Prior to the poll by Monmouth University, cannabis was decriminalized in New Jersey.

It started when the Attorney General of New Jersey, Atty. Gurbil Grewal, ordered the dismissal of all cannabis-related offenses due to the reason that his office needed time for the transition and the formulation of the rules and regulations to properly guide these types of cases.

He said that prosecutors and other legislators will work together with his office in handling cannabis-related cases.

However, this does not signify the full decriminalization of the substance but a lot of advocate groups see this as their ray of hope.

Evan Nison, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law, made a statement about this saying that the memo made by Grewal would be a way to delay, if not actually prevent, a huge number of unfair prosecutions.

A statement made by Amol Sinha of American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey was published saying that the letter of Grewal was “step forward for New Jersey that should bring us closer to reforming our marijuana laws and ultimately righting the wrongs of unjust marijuana enforcement.”

Sinha added that “As the state Legislature charts a course towards legalization of marijuana for adult use, it only makes sense that municipalities would begin attempting to undo the harms of prohibition that have ravaged communities — particularly communities of color — throughout the state.”

For the business sector, the President of the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, Scott Rudded, was really impressed by Grewal’s memo, expressing his optimism towards the possible legal inclusion of marijuana in New Jersey’s Market.

Rudder said that the attorney general and Murphy administration’s action are a huge leap forward in the ongoing effort to bring legal recreational cannabis and expansion of medical cannabis to New Jersey, coupled with continued progress in the legislature. Rudder added that there is renewed hope that legalization and expansion will occur sooner rather than later.

It is also not a secret that huge cannabis production is already happening in New Jersey.

Apparently, even if the production of marijuana remains illegal, there is a commercial warehouse that administers a cannabis growing operation.

Harmony Dispensary opened just a few weeks ago and it is now the latest site to provide the residents of New Jersey, cannabis for medical purposes.

A program using cannabis for medical purposes was supported by a Democrat, Gov. Philip D. Murphy that paved the way for an additional 10,000 patients who enrolled in this program since January. A total of 25,000 residents have enrolled themselves to be under the medical cannabis program.

Because of these developments, the business owners and the residents, are looking forward to more legal ways of acquiring and consuming cannabis.

For Gov. Murphy, decriminalization is not enough and he believes that legislation should be the next step. The debate whether to stop with just decriminalizing or to push through with legalization sparked a huge lobbying effort from the people of New Jersey.

It is not a surprise that Murphy received a lot of support.

As a matter of fact, during the campaign period last year, Democrat Philip Murphy’s platform included the legalization of recreational cannabis and he won with 56 percent of the votes.

Although we must take into consideration that not everyone who voted for Gov. Murphy was actually in favor of his cannabis platforms, it just shows how much support he could gain the future.

The main sponsor of the New Jersey cannabis legalization bill, State Senator Nicholas Scutari of D-Union, said that Grewal’s huge support group, and his recent applauded actions, could help in boosting the momentum of the approval of the legalization of marijuana before September.

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