A portion of this story was reposted with permission from NJ.com. Read the full story here.
By Amanda Hoover | NJ Advance Media For NJ.com; Photo by Joe Epstein | The Star-Ledger
A coalition of activists and experts is readying to roll out a campaign to legalize marijuana in New Jersey for those over 21, framed through a racial justice lens seeking to end arrests for weed use and address the damage caused by the war on drugs.
NJ CAN 2020 formed in March, just a week before the state began shutting down to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Since, the landscape of an election has changed drastically — no going door-to-door to spread the word, no rallies with motivational speakers to rouse voters. And the get-out-the-vote message has shifted to getting the ballot in the mailbox on time, as New Jersey plans to send mail-in ballots to all of its registered voters.
“As people are self-isolating, quarantining, we need to go where people are,” said Axel Owen, NJ CAN 2020′s campaign manager. “Since we can’t go to their door, that means we have to go to their phone.”
The coalition includes members of the ACLU of New Jersey, Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, the Latino Action Network, the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, the NAACP New Jersey State Conference and the NJ CannaBusiness Association. It also has the support and funding of Weedmaps, individual donors and New Jersey advocacy group, including the ACLU.
The coalition will take a virtual-first approach to reaching voters and educating them about the ballot question seeking to legalize marijuana. They will host online forums, live broadcasts and posts on social media as well as phone banking and text alerts.
Despite a years-long battle to legalize marijuana, coalition members say the need to educate voters remains.
“There are many people in New Jersey who think that we have already legalized,” said Amol Sinha, executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey and a coalition member. “I think we need to educate voters that no, it’s not done. And it’s going to be on the ballot.”