The raid on The Weedmans Joint this past week has struck a major blow to the
movement for legalization and an end to the pot prosecutions in the state of
NJ. Not only were some of the leaders of
this effort, including Ed Forchion aka The NJ Weedman arrested and hit with
multiple charges, but the police militarized approach to the arrest – in bullet
proof SWAT attire and their posing in front of the shop with their battle
appropriate machine guns for the media cameras has sent a chilling signal to
those who want cannabis legalized in NJ as well as those of us in the
Decarceration fight that want an end to mass incarceration and the over
prosecution for trivial offenses as well as the racist way that laws are
enforced in NJ which leads to Black men and women making up 67% of NJ’s
incarcerated population.
At the end of 2015,
there was a spate of articles that highlighted the fact that while other states
around the nation are moving toward legalization, decriminalization and
downplaying of enforcement of what I would call useless cannabis prohibition
laws, NJ’s arrest rate for cannabis has actually been on the upswing with the
highest number of annual arrests in almost 2 decades! See:
One of the reactions to the crackdown on The Weedman’s
Joint and Temple has been an article by Jeff Edelstein comparing The NJ Weedman’s
continued activities in pursuit of legalization to a soldier that basically got
himself killed at the end of World War I by rushing the enemy even though the
war was literally minutes from being over. The way he puts it in his article:
“While the war might not be
over, armistices have been signed all over the place.
But not in New
Jersey, not under the rule of Gov. Chris Christie. Give it a few years, put
someone who agrees with 60 percent of the country in the governor’s chair, and
I promise you New Jersey will make it legal.”
That comparison
falls flat on its face. In the few years
that Edelstein suggests we wait – depending upon whether a few means 2 or 4,
somewhere around 50,000 to 100,000 more NJ residents will have been arrested – a
harrowing experience where you get physically handled by officers armed with
the implements to possibly kill you – you immediately lose your freedom and are
thrown in an unhealthy holding cell until you either make bail or face
trial. While most first or even second
arrests for small quantities do not result in prison terms, there are fines and
fees that are often insurmountable for the arrested so they end up in jails or
prisons any way.
So in NJ there is
still full scale war on pot and users of cannabis. There is no victory – there is devastating
defeat after defeat to the lives of those that are disrupted by the arrests, as
well as a reprehensible medical cannabis system that is costly, inaccessible,
severely limiting and medical patients often end up arrested any way for their
perfectly legal use of the medicine.
Even for those not arrested, they scurry in the shadows due to NJ’s
ongoing prohibition.
According to a 2013
national ACLU study, NJ spends $127 million per year on pot law enforcement and
a Black NJ resident is 3 times as likely to be arrested for pot as a white
resident, even though the use is roughly equal between those
constituencies. Since NJ arrests
continue to increase, there is no reason to believe that the expenditures have decreased – indeed it is likely that they have increased.
The tone of
Edelstein’s article is for NJ Weedman to stand down – he even suggests that he
move out of NJ to Washington DC or something.
That is a proverbial suggestion to the legalization and decarceration movements in general
as well – why put yourself out there – just wait – things will improve once
Christie is out of office – don’t worry – you will see – is what Edelstein
seems to be telling us.
To be fair,
Edelstein’s heart is probably in the right place. He has written extensively on the topic and
he says in this very article: “I believe marijuana
should be 100 percent legal and I think the 25,000 people who get arrested in
New Jersey each year for possession should have their records cleared.” I appreciate that Edelstein in particular includes
the Decarceration demand in his statement.
Ed Forchion credits Edelstein as being one of the first to cover his
activities to demand legalization including to write about when he (Forchion)
lit a joint up in the chambers of the NJ legislature.
However, it is wrong for Edelstein to
suggest that the war is one minute from being over, that legalization has won,
to promise that the next governor will bring about legalization and to suggest
that the movement wait a few more years for that all to happen. I call upon Edelstein to do some more writing
to clarify and reiterate the actual facts of what is happening to NJ residents at
the hands of NJ’s draconian prohibition enforcement instead of promoting a myth
that all is ok on the NJ streets.
Edelstein should do some research as well as to his assertion that the
end of the reign of Christie will automatically bring about legalization – that
assertion is unproven at best and could indeed be patently wrong.
While Edelstein is entitled to his
views – his views carry much more weight than, for example, my comments on
Facebook about them or in this blog article
- since The Trentonian is a much more widely read outlet unfortunately
than http://decarceratenj.blogspot.com
. It is harmful to the fight to say that
there is victory at hand while there are still 10s of 1000s having their lives
disrupted by prohibition in NJ every year – being forced into situations with
armed police that could lead to violence and even death.
As stated in the article in the second
issue of The NJ Decarcerator entitled
“Legalize Yes – But Decarcerate”:
“We need an
immediate moratorium across NJ against the continued prosecution – and an end
to spending 1/8 a billion ($127 million) per year on pot law enforcement. We need immediate unconditional amnesty for
all those who are facing charges . . . immediate decarceration of anyone being
held in jails and anyone incarcerated for marijuana and related charges as well
as those who have been returned to incarceration for marijuana related parole
violations. . . . The system depends on mass incarceration – particularly of
Black, Latino and impoverished – as a means of social control. The war on drugs
was initiated in the 60s and 70s in response to the rebellions and liberation
movements that were afoot in that day.
If the system can keep those in the super oppressed communities in fear
of the police, in fear of prosecution and incarceration – it can undermine the
ability of these communities to unite and organize and build structures to resist
the onslaughts on these communities like school privatization, gentrification
and real estate speculation, the lack of livable wage jobs and cuts in services
that are needed by so many because of failures of the economy. These communities are treated as if everyone
is a criminal. And their ability to
resist the daily depredations is diminished by over-policing for petty crimes
and mass incarceration.”
In addition to the
false premise that the war is won and victory is at hand – in the state of NJ
where arrests continue to be on the upswing and we are in the wake of a high
profile bust of perhaps the most visible proponent of legalization – complete with
the armed propaganda posings of the cops in full riot regalia in front of the
shop toting submachine guns . . . there is the unproven hypothesis as to what
the next governor will bring to NJ.
While Christie is
at the very bottom of his approval rating, he has worked hard at alienating
every sector of NJ to get to that low ebb – including much of his own base that
used to idolize him as a hero. So while
Christie could not get elected there is no guarantee that the next governor
will be a Democrat and there is no guarantee that even if s/he is a Democrat that
s/he will make legalization a priority to occur at any point early in their
term or during the term at all. And in
the interim, the arrest figures and the lives disrupted, some of those lives
ruined, will pile up by the 10s of 1000s.
My recommendation
to Jeff Edelstein and to all journalists covering this issue in NJ, is to do
some follow up writing:
1.
Correct
the false premise that we are at the point of victory in NJ by revisiting the
statistics as to how NJ arrest numbers are actually increasing.
2.
Point
out that even in lieu of legislative change bringing about legalization,
priorities can immediately shift on the local level with city administrations
directing the police brass to focus on other areas and prosecutors to dismiss
the charges being brought. Judges can be
urged to also dismiss charges and amnesty measures can be passed in the state
legislature.
3.
Actually
conduct a study of who the likely governatorial hopefuls are – now – and what
there history is on this issue and what their stated position is. They can be asked: What is their
position? How much of a priority do they
see legalization being? Assuming
legislative support, how quickly would their administration bring about
legalization? What would their plan be
to bring about legalization? How will
they handle the related issue of Decarceration?
4.
Reporters
should also investigate the racial dynamics of police enforcement – the profiling
that makes it 3 times as likely for a Black NJ resident to get popped than a
white resident. Bringing out these facts
can then be utilized to legally challenge the arrests, prosecutions and
sentencing of those that were victimized by racist policing – and provide
immediate relief to some of the victims of NJ’s pot prohibition.
Many of us are
pained by the devastating blow these arrests have had on the movement to
legalize and Decarcerate and to NJ Weedman and the others caught up in this
over the top dragnet – as well as to the impact NJ’s prohibition has on the lives
of the 20,000 plus arrested each year.
The response needs to be not to stand down – but to continued to bring out
the facts and to make demands for an end to the arrests and prosecutions – NOW –
not years from now. There are measures
that can be taken TODAY on the local level and on the statewide level.
Meanwhile, all
those that want to directly support the legal efforts of those arrested can do
so at the following link:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/liberty-bell-temple-support-defense-fund--2#
