Legalization of Marijuana in New Jersey

Legalization of Marijuana in New Jersey

In current events, there are a lot of topics that can be discussed in our class, specifically for New Jersey. While running for governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy ran on the political topic of making marijuana in New Jersey. The topic for this paper will be just that, the legalization of marijuana in New Jersey and how it could help or hurt the state. This paper will touch on the topic of race and incarceration for possession of marijuana. The paper will also discuss if marijuana becomes legal, how it could help people who are incarcerated for possession and dealing with marijuana, and how it can help a certain race succeed. There have been many debates on if or how marijuana affects your body. Due to it being an illegal federal drug, it has a lot of restriction for medical testing. This paper will discuss how it can help or harm the study of marijuana on the human body. A medical marijuana tester talks about how it was hard to test medical marijuana; Josh Wurzwe said: “It was breaking the law to test cannabis unless it was law enforcement doing forensic testing, the whole system was quasilegal, but still federally illegal.” (Shaffe, 2019)

The topic of marijuana will always demonstrate a conflict between the State and Federal governments. If a state makes marijuana legal, it is still not legal under federal law, which causes confusion and arguments between these laws. Statistically, people of color or minorities are the people who often get arrested for possession of marijuana and are racially discriminated against since the beginning of marijuana being put on the list of illegal drugs. It all started with the War on Drugs, which was later found that it was racially motivated for President Nixon’s gain. “[Y]ou have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to” Richard M. Nixon, former U.S. President (War on Black Men: Arguments for the Legalization of Drug, 16).  If we legalize marijuana, then minorities and people of color will not be at a disadvantage in the American system.