NJ Should Follow CO, WA, Legalize MJ
A reader in Toms River writes that the outcome of ballot initiatives across the country this November signal that it's time to end marijuana prohibition.
Toni Bailey casts her ballot outside Redmond City Hall.
Courtesy Toni Bailey
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Dear Editor,
It is very promising to learn that Colorado and Washington State legalized marijuana for all adults, as the result of voter referendums on Nov. 6. Recreational marijuana will now be controlled, taxed and regulated by those states in a a way similar to alcohol. Legitimate businesses will be licensed to sell marijuana.
New Jersey arrests approximately 25,000 people per year for marijuana offenses and has a (nearly) 10 percent unemployment rate. It is time that New Jersey legalizes marijuana all together to create jobs, reduce crime and lower taxes.
Marijuana is objectively less harmful than alcohol. It is not addictive and no one has ever died from it. It is irrational to punish adults for using a substance safer than alcohol.
Just like alcohol prohibition, the prohibition of marijuana has not stopped its usage. But rather only moved the profits of its production and sale into underground markets and unfairly brands otherwise law-abiding adults with criminal records, limiting access to employment and education.
Marijuana legalization will give New Jersey more jobs, lower taxes and reduce crime. New Jersey, follow the lead of Colorado and Washington State by taxing and regulating marijuana for adults like alcohol!
Eric Hafner
Toms River, NJ
Have something to say? Email your letter to the editor to Matt Skoufalos, collingswood@patch.com.
Martha Washington
7:09 am on Sunday, November 11, 2012
Adults have used marijuana recreational at home, got spaced out and kids drowned in the bathtub. Marijuana is NOT the same as it was 20 or 10 years ago and one puff will affect your driving big time. There are MANY addictive chemicals and carcinogenic chemicals in marijuana.
john q public
8:21 am on Sunday, November 11, 2012
EXACTLY the SAME effects as when Prohibition was introduced. Because it wasn't regulated, poisonous moonshine could blind or kill a person. Legalizing it would lead to regulation, providing a "safer" less potent concoction. As far as kids drowning in the bathtub, they do that every day WITHOUT spaced-out parents.
Scott
7:37 am on Sunday, November 11, 2012
Martha, please cite your arguments. The bathtub one really sounds like an olds wives tale. Marijuana potency has always varied but all it means is people smoke less for the same effect. Studies have shown that marihuana does not interfere with driving in regular users. As for cancer, marijuana smokers actually have lower rates of throat and neck cancers. Cannaboids which are found in the marijuana plant have an anti-cancer effect, in fact the federal government has owned cannaboid patents for anti-tumor drugs since the 1970s. Alcohol and cigarettes are much worse but legal.
Jeffrey Blumstein
7:45 am on Sunday, November 11, 2012
Sign the petition to allow Colorado and Washington to experiment with Marijuana:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/suspend-now-enforcing-federal-marijuana-policy-states-colorado-and-washington/rWGZy0y6
Julio Rivera
10:54 am on Sunday, November 11, 2012
scott I agree 100% with you and as for Martha, with all do respect if you are one of those debt downers that's fine don't poo on our parade though. if you do not agree with individuals smoking marijuana that's fine keep it to yourself! because in my opinion watching my best friend pass away from alcohol use I will never take a drink as long as I live.! but as far as something god created an has not killed anyone yeah you better believe I'm ok with that! I've never met an individual become violent or as emotionally distraught that smoked cannabis like I have people that drink. there is no argument what so ever! marijuana is better in all aspect and should be legalized and used responsibly by adults!
John Tinker
9:38 pm on Monday, November 12, 2012
I agree 100% how anyone can sit back and say Marijuana should be illegal and Alcahol legal is beyond me. No one has ever dies from Marijuana. It is not addicitive, 97% of people in Rehab for Marijuana are forced there. If caught the judge will say alright you can either go to jail or rehab, which one would you pick? Only 3% are there voluntarily. Please read this article from NORML stating 11 facts about Marijuana. LEGALIZE NEW JERSEY! http://blog.norml.org/2012/11/03/normls-eleven-surprising-things-about-marijuana-that-seniors-need-to-know/
Mike Tarkz
9:49 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
Martha, thats the most stupid thing i have ever heard im sure more kids drown in the tub from old broads like u all drunk on wine with a bottle of xanax near by. Myself as a marijuana user for 10+ years thinks the laws are rediculous, do u know how many jobs i was actually qualified for and got passed up on just because of the couple stupid marijuana arrests? Too many to count, and congress wonders why the unemployment rate is so high, i really wonder how many other people in the country are in my position over this non sense, and they say america is home of the free, bullcrap. Politians should be ashamed of themselves for letting this go on for so long to their own people.
Porterincollingswood
10:02 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
If we used taxes from legalized pot to fund programs for seniors (SocSec, Medicare), the government would be requiring us to smoke it for breakfast. There would be no ethical debate.
And the reason that alcohol is legal and without the same stigma is because it comes from grain. And we have lots of grain in the US. Always have. And early in this country's history, it was cheaper / more profitable to make grain into whiskey and ship it out of the heartland.
Money is the only consistent factor in US policy / social norms throughout its history. So let's be honest. Now that states are strapped for cash, pot is becoming less of an issue and will soon be legal everywhere.
Stephanie
5:16 pm on Sunday, January 13, 2013
I have smoked some here and there, but am not even a user, and i STRONGLY suggest marijuana gets legalized and fast. Everything I would like to write has already been written above from other people, so I dont want to sound like a broken record. But yes, lowers the crime rate, helps medical wise, and you can't die from smoking it, so what the hell is the issue!? Tax it, I'm sure the governmnt will be happy, and it takes stress off of the people who do smoke it..no more having to "hide" it or worry about the cops and laws as if your a little kid! Let's start arresting the REAL criminals (murderers, pedophiles, etc.) and leaving all that wasted space, thats being taken up by people who smoke a little ganja here and there, for them! Open up your eyes america sheesh!!!