My friend Peter Brown who served as a Democratic councilman in Linden for many years joined me for a conversation about the new legal pot law in NJ.

Peter has grave concerns about the direction of the law, which puts police officers in a difficult spot aggressively discouraging enforcement of underage drinking and drug laws. Cops can be charged with a civil rights violation and face jail time and hefty fines.

Peter spoke as a black American explaining that the politicians again got it wrong in an attempt to make everything about race. The real conversation about race should be that minority Americans are disproportionately disadvantaged due to the lack of economic opportunity in our cities.

Now with politicians in Peter's view essentially encouraging drug use in the cities, how many minority kids will be denied the opportunity for jobs because pot is still illegal at the federal level?

As I've said publicly for years, it was beyond time to decriminalize pot. People should be allowed to grow it in their backyard gardens if they want. But to aggressively target police as bad guys for stopping drug and alcohol use among children is counter-productive and dangerous to our community.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own. Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015.

Marijuana legal in NJ: How do the laws work?

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