Drugs and prostitution: What might be next for New Jersey

Not long from now, you may be able to light up a spliff in the Metlife Stadium parking lot, take your seat at the Giants game and revel in unbridled excitement after betting your whole paycheck on the final score.

By 2019, all of the above might be legal.

Politicians itching for new revenue are looking to tap new sources like legalized marijuana and sports betting — one-time vices that could suddenly become industries in New Jersey.

With a quarter-century ban on sports betting reversed and talk of legalizing marijuana heating up, what could be next for New Jersey?

Prostitution and sex work

Despite public acceptance of marijuana use — recreational as well as medical — the path to legalization has been slow-going, albeit enthusiastic.

Aside from medical marijuana, marijuana is still illegal and criminalized in New Jersey. The first step toward legalization would likely be decriminalization, essentially making penalties for marijuana possession and use less harsh.

Sex work advocates also hope to take that first step and decriminalize sex work. Advocacy groups are pushing for decriminalization as it would lead to more safety for workers, access to police and the ability to unionize, said Derek Demeri, co-founder of New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance, a sex work-advocacy group.

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"It’s a very complicated thing, especially in situations when someone is in a very forced scenario," Demeri said. "Because of that difficulty, the approach has been arrest everyone, deal with repercussions later."

With sex work still criminalized, sex workers are afraid to report incidents, including physical and sexual abuse they suffer at the hands of clients, Demeri said. Laws dictate that even if a group of sex workers wanted to get an apartment together and use it as a business address, that would constitute a sex trafficking ring, Demeri said.

Decriminalization would make sex work safer, Demeri said, making workers feel secure in reporting crimes to police. It would also allow sex workers to unionize without fear of being deemed a sex trafficking ring.

But, unlike the path marijuana has taken, sex workers don't necessarily advocate for sex work's legalization, Demeri said. While legalization would lead to more regulations and taxable revenue, it would also lead to over-burdensome rules, Demeri said.

"Lets say we want to impose condom use," Demeri said. "If a worker chooses not to use a condom, is he or she going to be arrested? The ultimate question in any policy reform needs to be, how are we helping the worker. We don’t see legalization doing that."

Safe injection sites

Former Bergen County Prosecutor and now-Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal has led a charge against the crippling opioid epidemic, first in Bergen and now through the whole state.

Through innovative initiatives like the HART program, opioid reversal drug distribution and education programs and proposed needle exchange programs, the state has pushed to make it safer for opioid users.

"Rather than trying to arrest our way out of the problem, we are developing innovative solutions that tackle the underlying disease of addiction," Grewal said. "We are developing a statewide response that offers comprehensive treatment options to those suffering."

But a more controversial initiative, already being discussed by neighboring New York City and Philadelphia, has not yet reached the New Jersey state limits.

In New York City and Philadelphia, residents, politicians and health commissioners alike have worked to create supervised injection sites — places where heroin users can intravenously administer drugs with access to clean needles and medical supervision.

The drive to open these centers comes in response to a growing number of overdose deaths and a thriving drug market in neighborhoods like Philadelphia's Kensington. In Dr. Tom Farley, Philadelphia's health commissioner, has led the charge, citing the need for medical supervision in the event of an overdose and access to clean syringes to prevent the spread of diseases like hepatitis and HIV.

Much like neighboring states, the focus in New Jersey has gradually shifted from jailing drug users to offering them help. However, talks of safe injection sites are a far-gone conclusion in New Jersey, with Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato recently equating a safe injection site to providing a clean safe environment for drug users to "kill themselves."

As the Attorney General's office did in January, in response to an Asbury Park Press story, Grewal's office declined to comment specifically on safe injection sites.

Email: torrejon@northjersey.com