<story><title>Legal pot in 100 days? New Jersey&apos;s next governor aims for national first</title><url>http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/legal-pot-in-100-days-new-jerseys-next-governor-aims-for-national-first/article/2640125</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>adventured</author><text>It looks very unlikely the anti-drug brigade is going to be able to stop the spread of this nationally at this point. I think NJ will make nine legal states, more will legalize at a faster clip. The Trump Administration appears to be coasting (neither helping nor meaningfully hindering) as far as legalization is concerned, and the Republicans look set to drop the Senate (even despite the up-for-election imbalance).&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s going to accomplish a ton of things simultaneously.&lt;p&gt;- Substantially reduce arrests, prison sentences, and our general prison &amp;#x2F; jail population over time.&lt;p&gt;- Provide another good option for pain management to millions of people. Something we desperately need right now.&lt;p&gt;- Reduce general crime.&lt;p&gt;- Weaken the cartels.&lt;p&gt;- Increase tax revenue and employment by normalizing an industry worth tens of billions annually. The US should eventually become a major marijuana exporter as many other countries gradually legalize.&lt;p&gt;- Break the back of the war on drugs and change the culture more broadly (this is already well underway, as so many middle class voters are seeing the vast destruction of the opioid crisis, which is educating people on needing to treat addiction as a health problem while simultaneously demonstrating how relatively safe marijuana is by comparison).</text></comment>
<story><title>Legal pot in 100 days? New Jersey&apos;s next governor aims for national first</title><url>http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/legal-pot-in-100-days-new-jerseys-next-governor-aims-for-national-first/article/2640125</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>JohnTHaller</author><text>But then we&amp;#x27;ll likely wind up with people using less opioids and 25% fewer deaths due to opioid overdose like we&amp;#x27;ve seen elsewhere and won&amp;#x27;t someone think of the poor pharmaceutical companies? &amp;#x2F;s</text></comment>