New Jersey has legalized weed. Now what? Expert doc weighs in (Opinion)

Finally, after all these years of talking about legalizing recreational marijuana in New Jersey, voters overwhelmingly approved it. In fact, according to our coverage, New Jersey wanted legal weed more than it wanted Joe Biden:

"'Yes' votes won by wide margins in every single county in New Jersey, even in the most conservative corners of the state. In blue Hudson County, yes-to-marijuana received more votes than Democratic Presidential contender Joe Biden. It was the state's most lopsided victory for pot — about 198,000 to 41,000, as of late-night tallies, or 82 percent of the vote."

Dr. David Nathan is the founder and board president of Doctors for Cannabis Regulation, which, according to his website is "the first national and international physicians’ organization dedicated to the legalization and regulation of marijuana."

Nathan came on my New Jersey 101.5 show Wednesday night to talk about what this means for New Jersey.

"It is wonderful," Nathan said about marijuana being legalized in New Jersey when he called in. "It feels like such a victory for the people of New Jersey. You know, the voters, we gotta really thank them along with the advocates, for really understanding the science and making this happen. And understanding the social justice issues that have made this a no-brainer for so many years. And I think New Jerseyans now are gonna see a big positive change as a result of this. ... We're gonna go from paying for cannabis prohibition, to collecting the revenues from consenting adults."

Despite the legalization, there are several towns have passed ordinances against it, to which Nathan says:

"I think it's gonna be like alcohol prohibition and the resulting dry towns that we still have in New Jersey, you know Ocean City is perfectly within its rights to not have alcohol in public settings. But they don't have the right to tell people what they can do in the privacy of their own homes, and I think that's gonna be the case here."

Road safety has also become an issue now that recreational weed is legal. Could auto insurance rates go up?

"They certainly shouldn't need to go up because what they're finding in legalized states is that there is really no change in accidents and certainly no changes in any pattern of fatalities or accidents that seems attributable to cannabis legalization."

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise. Any opinions expressed are Steve's own. Steve Trevelise is on New Jersey 101.5 Monday-Thursday from 7pm-11pm. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.

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