According to a new poll conducted by Farleigh Dickinson University, 42% of New Jerseyans lonely enough to answer the phone and talk to a stranger approve of legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Pardon the word play, but I thought it'd be higher.

Governor Phil Murphy ran on making recreational marijuana legal with the notion that a bill legalizing the devil's weed would fly through the legislature in the first 100 days of his administration. The citizens would rejoice, giggle a lot and eat some Funnyuns while the tax revenue from the newly legalized controlled substance enriched the state treasury to the tune of $300 million plus annually. Turns out legalizing weed isn't as big a no-brainer as he thought.

The effort to legalize recreational marijuana has run up against opposition from religious leaders, conservative legislators and even from within the governor's own party. Some, like attorney general Jeff Sessions consider pot to be just as bad a s heroin. Those people are obviously delusional so lets ignore them and deal with the folks who have genuine concerns.

There is overwhelming support for medical marijuana and the governor has already made moves to improve upon the draconian restrictions placed upon the program by former governor Christie. There is also overwhelming support for at the very least decriminalizing pot. Instead of throwing a disproportionate number of young black men in jail for possession these folks would like to see it reduced to something akin to a traffic ticket. I say why stop there. If we can all agree the possession of marijuana should be decriminalized lets not attempt to legislate morality by keeping the pot economy underground. Legalize it, regulate it, tax it and lets move on with our lives.