NJ marijuana legalization activists want legal weed as cops make pot bust every 14 minutes

Mike Davis | Asbury Park Press

Someone is arrested on marijuana charges every 14 minutes in New Jersey, according to a new analysis by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.

New Jersey police made 37,623 arrests for marijuana possession or distribution in 2017, about 95 arrests per day, according to the chapter. The arrests represent a 34% increase over 2013 arrest data,.

The ACLU analysis, released Friday, showed that black people are arrested at three times the rate of white people for marijuana possession, despite similar usage rates.

"Something is wrong here and we need legalization to start making it right. Those 37,623 arrests interrupted people's lives. They saw families torn apart," said Sarah Fajardo, policy director for the ACLU of New Jersey. "They squandered state resources at taxpayers' expense, all while the majority of New Jerseyans believe marijuana should be legal."

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According to a new Pew Research Center poll, about 67% of Americans support marijuana legalization, up from 41% in 2010. Opposition during that time has dropped from 52% to 32%.

A February poll by Monmouth University reported that 62% of New Jerseyans supported legal weed. Five years ago, a Monmouth poll recorded a nearly even split, with 48% in support and 47% against.

The racial disparities in marijuana arrests are even more stark on the county level: In Hunterdon County, black people are 11 times more likely to be arrested. In Ocean County, they're seven times more likely.

“The slow-motion civil rights catastrophe of marijuana arrests must end, and it must end now,” ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha said. "We know that black and brown communities have disproportionately borne the often-lifelong consequences an arrest wreaks on their employment prospects, their opportunities for education, and their very future."

Last year, a USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey report revealed that New Jersey police officers are the toughest enforcers of marijuana laws in the country. Marijuana possession accounts for nearly 11 percent of all arrests made by local, state and federal law enforcement officers in New Jersey, about one arrest for every 187 residents.

It's the highest percentage in the United States.

According to the ACLU, Bergen and Monmouth counties have the most marijuana arrests per year, with 3,681 arrests in Bergen and 3,351 arrests in Monmouth.

Cape May County makes the most marijuana arrests per capita, with 728 arrests per 100,000 people, followed by Hunterdon County, with 538 arrests per 100,000 people.

The ACLU is one of a number of groups that have pushed legislators to legalize weed in New Jersey, arguing that marijuana legalization would put a huge dent in ending the racial disparity in drug arrests.

"Nothing has changed, even though research shows us that people across races use marijuana at similar rates," Sinha said on a conference call. "The fact that communities of color are disproportionately burdened by the war on drugs has created a civil rights crisis.

"That's why we urgently need legalization and we need it now through legislation that focuses on racial and social justice,” he said.

Earlier this year, the New Jersey legal weed bill came just a few votes short of passing in the Legislature. In May, Senate President Stephen Sweeney said he was holding the bill indefinitely, instead focusing efforts on legalizing marijuana via a 2020 ballot initiative.

In recent months, he walked that back, telling the Asbury Park Press editorial board that he'd try to get the bill passed during the post-Election Day lame duck legislative session. He said the bill would likely undergo some changes in order to sway legislators, including lowering the 5 pound bar for expungement and restricting cannabis-infused edibles.

Mike Davis writes about the seemingly never-ending push to legalize marijuana in New Jersey, including the effects it would have on the economy, the black market and regular people. No, he can't tell you where to buy illegal drugs. Contact him at 732-643-4223, mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.