US Senator and former mayor of Newark, NJ, Cory Booker, has introduced a new bill to legalize marijuana on the federal level and encourage states to legalize it locally.
“You see these marijuana arrests happening so much in our country, targeting certain communities — poor communities, minority communities — targeting people with an illness,” Booker, the former mayor of Newark, said in a Facebook Live announcement of his legislation.
Booker says the bill would legalize marijuana at the federal level and withhold federal money for building prisons and jails, along with other funds, from states whose cannabis laws are shown to disproportionately incarcerate minorities.
Under the legislation, federal convictions for marijuana use and possession would be expunged and prisoners serving time for a marijuana offense would be eligible to a sentencing hearing.
The former mayor of Newark bill New Jersey considers legalizing marijuana.
