Prosecutors, ACLU and NAACP join to legalize marijuana

NEWARK – Representatives of diverse organizations on Wednesday plan to launch a consortium aimed at legalizing marijuana in New Jersey.

“New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform will focus on educating New Jerseyans about our failed marijuana laws,” said Eliza Straim, an organizer of the new group. “We’re confident we’ll have the support to change the law once the time comes.”

A news conference is planned in Newark to announce the consortium. Among the groups to be represented at the news conference are the New Jersey Municipal Prosecutor’s Association, which last year came out in favor of legalizing marijuana, and the New Jersey chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

A media advisory said the various groups are joining forces “in a broad-based campaign to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana, ending thousands of arrests per year in New Jersey.’’

Last February, the board of trustees of the Municipal Prosecutors Association voted to endorse legalization of marijuana, according to Jon-Henry Barr, president of the association and one of the expected speakers at Wednesday’s event. Seven of the board’s 10 members voted in favor of legalization, according to Barr.

Among the reasons the prosecutors favor legalization is the damage a prosecution for marijuana possession has on a person’s reputation, as well as growing acceptance among Americans that marijuana should not be criminalized, Barr said last year.

Meanwhile, there has been no action on companion bills calling for legalization of marijuana since they were introduced in the state Assembly and Senate and referred to committees last year. Gov. Chris Christie has said he would veto any law passed to legalize marijuana.

A Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press poll in late March and early April last year revealed that New Jerseyans are split almost down the middle on legalization, but those in support of the current bills were in the minority. Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said then that it seemed people had questions about how the proposal would be implemented and what kind of safeguards would be put in place.

“I have more questions than anybody else,” Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato said Tuesday, when asked to comment on the push to legalize marijuana. Coronato said one of the prime concerns would be how to tell if someone was under the influence of marijuana, since the drug stays in one’s system for days.

“Would it be alright for a nurse on her lunch hour to smoke marijuana and then go back to the hospital, or a taxicab driver, or a person driving the bus or the airplane pilot?” Coronato said.

He said those are some of the questions that need to be addressed before legalization can be considered.

New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform’s news conference is scheduled to be held at 11 a.m. in the Newark Club.

Kathleen Hopkins: 732-643-4202; Khopkins@app.com