While the results of the presidential election were still coming in on Wednesday night, New Jersey decisively voted to legalize marijuana. The result was widely expected but provided a few causes for celebration on an uncertain evening. “We did it, New Jersey,” the state’s governor Phil Murphy tweeted. “Public Question #1 to legalize adult-use marijuana passed overwhelmingly tonight, a huge step forward for racial and social justice and our economy.” (As the New York Times noted, in New Jersey, Black residents are over three times more likely than white residents to be charged with marijuana possession despite similar usage rates.)
The New Jersey state legislature still needs to pass a bill that implements legalization, and NJ.com said on Wednesday that the process could take months, if not more than a year. “This amendment has the potential to be a powerful step forward in our fight against the drug war—or it could perpetuate a status quo that continues to oppress communities of color,” the Rev. Charles F. Boyer, the founder of Salvation and Social Justice, told the Times. The paper noted that a central issue for the Cannabis Regulatory Commission will be to ensure that the process for getting access to dispensary licenses does not echo the racial injustices of the drug war.
But some legislators are eager to make it happen soon. “We’re anticipating moving very quickly with enabling legislation, which would in fact allow medical marijuana shops to sell to the general public immediately,” state senator Nick Scutari told the Times. He also told NJ.com he plans to introduce a bill, based off a previous legal marijuana bill that he sponsored, as soon as Thursday. And the enthusiasm for envisioning a future with dispensaries was palpable in other quarters too, with a mini-parlor game of naming future New Jersey dispensaries breaking out on Twitter and Mashable, in most cases with a reference to The Sopranos or Bruce Springsteen.
And as NJ.com pointed out, the director Kevin Smith, who is from Red Bank, New Jersey, imagined how his Silent Bob character would process the news. “Leaning against the Quick Stop wall all those years shmokin’ weed, Jay and Silent Bob never dreamed this day could be possible!” he tweeted. “Congrats to the good folks of the great state of New Jersey on legalizing marijuana! The Garden State is finally green!”
The New Jersey result also made it a bit easier to envision a future where legalization efforts continue to spread. New York state senator Liz Krueger told the Times that her neighboring state’s vote could spur New York’s own ongoing legalization push. “I’m going to cheer on New Jersey,” Krueger told the paper ahead of the vote, “and hope that it helps us beat them to the punch.”
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