Assembly panel OKs bill to decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot

After hearing testimony from advocates who declared the war on drugs over, an Assembly panel has approved a bipartisan measure that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

“This is not about turning a blind eye, this is about taking a realistic approach to the situation,” said Assemblyman Peter Barnes, D-Middlesex, one of the sponsors of the bill and the chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee. “Marijuana is known to be far less addictive than alcohol or cigarettes and yet we spend untold dollars every year to arrest and prosecute individuals for simple possession.”

The bill would decrease penalties for possession of 15 grams or less of marijuana to $150 for a first offense, $200 for a second violation and $500 for any subsequent violation. It would also make possession of drug paraphernalia for personal use of marijuana a civil offense punishable by a $100 civil penalty.

Blogger Jay Lassiter, in his testimony before the judiciary committee, called the war on drugs an “abysmal failure.”

“I turned 40 last week. The war on drugs is also 40,” Lassiter said in supporting the bill. “And I think about what this country would look like if over the course of the last 40 years we hadn’t misallocated all of these resources fighting an expensive, dangerous and ill-fated so-called war on drugs.”

Lassiter, who is HIV positive, also told the committee that he had smoked marijuana that morning in order to lessen the symptoms of his condition, an action which made him a criminal.

“Look. I’m in Brooks Brothers. I live in Cherry Hill. I pay, like, $10,000 in property taxes,” Lassiter said. “Do I really look like a criminal to you?”

Others said the bill would send a mixed message to teenagers about the dangers of drug use.

Bruce Hummer of the New Jersey Prevention Network said that the bill, if passed, would tell young people that marijuana use is safe. The state’s medical marijuana law, he said, already set the state on that road, he said.

“Research and history have shown this increasingly lenient view of marijuana will be devastating to our youth,” Hummer warned.

The bill also would make anyone under the 18 who is caught with marijuana and anyone over the age of 21 who is caught three times with pot undergo a drug education program. The offender would have to cover the costs of his or her participation in the program.

The bill’s sponsors say the measure would put New Jersey in line with other states, such as New York and Connecticut, that have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Among the sponsors of the bill are Assembly Michael Patrick Carroll, R-Morris, widely considered one of the most conservative members, and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, one of the most liberal in the Legislature.

The bill was passed 7-0.

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