New Jersey Public Query 1 outcomes: Marijuana legalization authorised

New Jersey has voted to legalize marijuana.

On Election Day, voters authorised Public Query 1, which implies the state will legalize the possession and use of marijuana for adults 21 and older, with New Jersey’s Hashish Regulatory Fee accountable for marijuana manufacturing and gross sales, based on the New York Occasions and the Related Press. The measure was open-ended on a number of fronts — together with on taxes and whether or not home-growing will likely be allowed — as an alternative leaving it to the legislature to work out the small print.

It was the legislature, with the assist of Gov. Phil Murphy (D), that positioned the measure on the poll after it didn’t move its personal legalization invoice.

New Jersey already allowed marijuana use for medical functions. The brand new legislation expands legalization to leisure and different nonmedical makes use of.

Marijuana stays unlawful below federal legislation. However beginning with President Barack Obama’s administration, the federal authorities has usually allowed states to legalize hashish with minimal federal interference.

Earlier than Election Day, 11 states and Washington, DC, had legalized marijuana, though DC doesn’t enable leisure gross sales. Change has moved shortly throughout the US: A decade in the past, zero states allowed marijuana for leisure functions. Right here’s what the map seemed like earlier than Election Day:

Supporters of legalization argue that it eliminates the harms of marijuana prohibition: the a whole bunch of 1000’s of arrests across the US, the racial disparities behind these arrests, and the billions of {dollars} that movement from the black marketplace for illicit marijuana to drug cartels that then use the cash for violent operations around the globe. All of this, legalization advocates say, will outweigh any of the potential downsides — reminiscent of elevated hashish use — which may include legalization.

Opponents, in the meantime, declare that legalization will create an enormous marijuana business that can market the drug irresponsibly. They level to America’s experiences with the alcohol and tobacco industries particularly, which have constructed their monetary empires largely on the backs of the heaviest customers of their merchandise. And so they argue ending prohibition may end in much more folks utilizing pot, probably resulting in unexpected destructive well being penalties.

In New Jersey, voters have sided with legalization supporters.

For extra on the talk over marijuana legalization, learn Vox’s explainer.