Marijuana legalization within in the state of New Jersey has small-town statist politicians enacting a loop hole that pushes and continues their prohibitionist agenda. Last year’s November election demonstrated that 67% of the Garden State’s residents supported legalization. It is now lawful for a person to carry up to an ounce of marijuana, recreational use may be consumed in a private residence as well as there are a few other permitted provisions within the latest bill. The legalization of this plant has made politicians with a personal interventionalist slant very unhappy.
Those anti-liberty elected officials are using local town ordinances to stifle the cultivation and distribution of this plant. The state has given the local municipalities the decision to vote for or against growing and selling cannabis. If the local body votes this option down, they will close a 5-year window preventing any grower or distributor from operating within the given township. Governing bodies do have the ability to review and re-vote during the 5-year period with the option of overturning any previous vote.
The Governor has created a Cannabis Regulatory Commission tasked with setting guidelines for everything marijuana in New Jersey. As of this time the commission has yet to bring forth their recommendations. The battle cry from the local councils has been “we are waiting for guidance to come from Trenton and waiting for the New Jersey Cannabis Commission to lay some ground work for the state”. These politicians are not only surrendering their local government control over to a more distant authority but are also kicking the can down the road for when the commission comes forward with their guidelines. Once rules are announced fundamentalist local politicians can refuse to reintroduce their first bill, which would keep their towns locked in 5-years of prohibition.
Liberty is Liberty, there is no support of liberty if you actively prevent someone from participating in a non-violent act within their home because you “don’t like it”. Too many politicians, and especially at the local level cry liberty but feign its actions when it doesn’t fit their tribal narrative. Tip O’Neil once said all politics are local, we are seeing at the local level prohibition being levied on towns through the backdoor, ignoring the will of the people. Be vigilant, identify and challenge when statist try to control you not so much from Washington but from the confines of your hometown.