By Ronald Fraser

New Jersey voters on Nov. 6 will approve or reject two statewide ballot items, including whether to allow more of the cost of benefits to be subtracted from the salaries of judges and whether to approve a $750 million bond issue for state universities and colleges. Citizen lawmakers in six other states will vote up or down a variety of marijuana ballot initiatives.

As important as New Jersey’s ballot propositions are, the out-of-state marijuana initiatives may, in the long run, have a far greater impact nationally and even here in New Jersey.

Medical marijuana. Voters in two states, Massachusetts and Arkansas, will decide if marijuana can be used for medical purposes with the advice of a licensed doctor, a measure already approved in New Jersey. If approved, Massachusetts will join nearby states — Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island — where the drug is already used to ease pain caused by cancer and other serious medical conditions.

In Arkansas, however, the stakes are much higher. The state could become the first in the South to break down the medical marijuana barrier. If voters in Arkansas say yes, other Southern states could very well follow in the coming years.

The third state with a medical marijuana ballot initiative, Montana, is a bit different. That state’s legislature recently acted to remove parts of a 2004 citizen-approved medical marijuana law. The proposal on the ballot in November asks Montanans to repeal the legislature’s action and reinstate the law as originally enacted in 2004.

Recreational marijuana. New Jersey voters should also keep an eye on potentially trend-setting ballots in Colorado, Oregon and Washington state, where marijuana is currently legal for medical purposes. Now, in all three states, propositions to legalize and regulate the use of marijuana for any purpose will be decided by the people. Passage in just one of these states will surely set off a major expansion of the marijuana policy debate nationally, including in New Jersey.

Not surprisingly, initiative supporters stress the potential benefits of legalizing the drug. In Colorado, Amendment 64 proposes a regulatory system for marijuana much like that for alcohol products and promises to reduce law-enforcement cost and increase tax revenues. One billboard in Colorado declares, “Pat Robertson would vote yes on 64. Will you?”

Initiative Measure 502 in Washington state will not only legalize and tax marijuana sales, it will also prohibit driving under the influence of the drug.

The purpose of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act of 2012, according to its supporters, is to protect children and increase public safety by regulating the sale of cannabis.

According to Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, “Taxpayers in New Jersey should take heed of what these Western states are trying to accomplish this election cycle by trying to pass binding marijuana legalization ballot initiatives. If any one state is successful, an immediate legal challenge from the federal government is likely, which will have an impact on whether or not states like New Jersey can follow suit.”

Historically, the marijuana debate is following America's tradition as a laboratory of democracy. New public policy ideas are first tried in individual state "laboratories" before they are exported to other states or imposed nationally. The policy experiment of the first state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana will certainly be closely watched.

State-level ballot initiatives also provide a much-needed means for the people to challenge one-size-fits-all federal policies such as the federal ban on medical marijuana. Seventeen states (New Jersey included) and the District of Columbia now allow medical use of marijuana — a direct rebuttal of federal laws that claim marijuana has no medicinal value.

By inviting the voters into the decision-making process, ballot initiatives become important public education events. Marijuana ballot initiatives, for example, mean voters have an opportunity to consider both sides of the issue and replace fear of the unknown with a more informed understanding of drug use. Once better informed, voters, not lawmakers in Washington, D.C., or the Statehouse in Trenton, are ready to responsively make the rules by which they will live.

As long as no one knows how to curb America’s urge to use alcohol, tobacco — or marijuana, legalization and regulation is a common-sense alternative to the current drug war and one that is worth a try.

Ronald Fraser, Ph.D., writes on public policy issues for the DKT Liberty Project, a Washington, D.C.-based civil liberties organization. Write him at fraserr@erols.com.

Follow @TimesofTrenton