As we approach 4/20, we’re reminded of the strides we’ve made to address the harms of the failed drug war in New Jersey over the past few years. But we know there is still more to do to further policies and programs that promote public health and racial justice.
Our state has made progress, but New Jersey must do more to make an equitable future a reality.
Drug policies in the United States have always been about targeting communities of color and using criminalization as a tool to systematically deny people their rights. Policies targeting people for substance use and sale have played out the way nearly every policy in our criminal legal system has – by disproportionately harming Black and brown people.
When New Jersey legalized cannabis in 2021, the new law prioritized reinvestment in communities most harmed by past criminalization. But even now, years later, we at the ACLU of New Jersey are still pushing lawmakers to ensure the law lives up to its promise.
Upon legalizing cannabis, New Jersey created two built-in funding mechanisms for community reinvestment, promising almost 60 percent of cannabis sales tax revenue and the Social Equity Excise Fee, or SEEF, to community programs.
These mechanisms were intended to ensure that communities most harmed by the failed drug war can financially benefit from cannabis legalization. They should be raising tens of millions of dollars to fund community programs.
In December, the government commission in charge of regulating the fee set the SEEF at an amount 12 times lower than what was initially approved, leaving millions of dollars on the table that should have been funding social equity programs in Black and Latinx communities.
When New Jerseyans voted to legalize cannabis, they made it clear they wanted racial and social justice to be centered in New Jersey’s legalization and decriminalization laws. It’s important that lawmakers honor that promise – including providing meaningful opportunities for the public to weigh in on the implementation of these policies.
This is especially important when it comes to how funds are being spent. It’s critical that cannabis revenue is used to fund community resources like housing, education, and harm reduction programs – not the criminal legal system.
New Jersey can lead the way in making sure that the communities most harmed by marijuana criminalization benefit from revenue generated by cannabis sales. For New Jersey’s cannabis legalization and decriminalization laws to honor the will of the people, state-elected officials must create a more transparent and collaborative reinvestment process that prioritizes racial and social justice.
Now’s the time to raise your voice. Send a message to elected leaders to ensure that New Jersey lives up to its promise of fair and equitable cannabis legalization.
