Jersey City Mayor Fulop in partnership with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka released the following statement this morning regarding New Jersey’s upcoming cannabis legislation, to be voted on next week. After assurance from state leaders that they will continue to seek full automatic expungement…
Statement by Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop:
The most important and controversial policy issue of our time is the proposed legalization ofadult use of cannabis.Today, as the Mayor of Newark and the Mayor of Jersey City, we stand together in solidarity representing the two largest cities in our state with a combined total population of over 500,000 in support of the legislation currently being proposed that will be voted upon on Monday, March 25th, 2019. This legislation has the ability to give hope and new beginnings to communities that have historically dealt with the impacts of failed drug policy and the criminalization of communities of color, disenfranchised and poor communities which have disproportionately been impacted. According to theACLU,marijuana arrests now account for over half of all drug arrests in the United States. While we support this…