New Jersey Spends $1B Every Year Fighting The Drug War: Report

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey could have paid the average monthly mortgage for eight million homeowners, or bought a month’s worth of groceries for nearly 20 million families of four. Instead, it spent $11.6 billion to bust people for drugs, a report says.

It’s been 50 years since former president Richard Nixon declared that illegal narcotics were “public enemy number one,” launching a watershed moment in the now infamous War on Drugs. But half a century later, that battle has taken a serious bite out of the Garden State’s coffers – while also causing untold suffering for the people it was ostensibly meant to protect, a nonprofit claims.

On Thursday, the New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) released a report that took a look at the financial and social costs of New Jersey’s drug war over the last decade. Read the full study here.

Some staggering numbers were revealed, researchers said. Among them:

• New Jersey dumped a staggering $11.6 billion into enforcing the drug war during the past 10 years, including spending $5.1 billion on arrests, $2.2 billion for prosecution and $4.3 billion in prison costs.
• New Jersey’s $1.2 billion annual investment in drug policing is 8.5 times greater than the state’s budget for addiction services. It’s also 27.9 times greater than the state budget for homeless prevention and shelters, and 292 times greater than the state budget for harm reduction programs.
• Despite billions in spending, overdose deaths in New Jersey have skyrocketed over the past decade — killing nearly 20,000 people. Overdose death rates have grown 2.1 times greater for White people, 3.6 times greater for Black people and 3.8 times greater for Hispanic/Latinx people.

“By every measure, the War on Drugs has been an absolute failure for the state of New Jersey,” said Jenna Mellor, the report’s author and drug policy consultant with the NJPP.

“The state’s racially motivated and stigmatizing drug laws actively harm the very people they are meant to protect,” Mellor said.

NJPP President Brandon McKoy agreed.

“This new research confirms what has been apparent for decades: the War on Drugs is a financial drain on New Jersey taxpayers that is only exacerbating racial inequalities and higher rates of overdose deaths,” McKoy said.

“Now, it’s up to the same state Legislature that caused this devastation in communities of color to correct course and set New Jersey on a new path that prioritizes harm reduction and recovery — not arrests and punishment,” McKoy urged.

Unadjusted for inflation, the $11.6 billion spent enforcing the drug war in New Jersey over the past 10 years could have:

• Paid the average monthly home mortgage for 8.48 million residents
• Bought a month’s worth of groceries for 19.7 million families of four on a “thrifty” food plan

Activists and community members spoke about the human cost of the drug war during a news conference on Thursday.

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The NJPP report was applauded by U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, who recently introduced federal legislation with Rep. Cori Bush (D- Missouri) to decriminalize the personal use and possession of all drugs.

“The War on Drugs was never about helping people … it was about criminalizing them,” Coleman said. “It was a cynical political calculation that has negatively impacted millions of people.”

“We need an approach that recognizes that we need not lock people away, that those who are struggling should be handled by doctors and counselors, not judges and jailers,” the congresswoman added.

According to the NJPP, here are some steps the state could take to create a better future:

• “Decriminalize all low-level drug use, possession, and sales”
• “Publicly acknowledge the harms caused by the drug war”
• “Publish public data pertaining to drug war enforcement”
• “Conduct an audit of all public agencies to identify punishment-based policies, practices, and regulations that discriminate against or exclude people who use drugs”
• “Invest in equitable, evidence-based drug policies that prevent problematic drug use and support the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs”
• “Substantially invest in Black and Latinx communities most harmed by drug war arrests”

NJ MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION

Hopefully, New Jersey’s recently passed recreational marijuana law can make a dent in the damage done by the war on drugs, advocates say.

New Jersey voters approved recreational marijuana in November 2020. But it wasn't legal to fire up the bong until Gov. Phil Murphy signed the official framework into law on Feb. 22. Now, adults 21 and over are allowed to consume cannabis on private property. Similar to New Jersey's alcohol laws, it's still illegal to smoke or consume marijuana in a public place, such as a park or the beach.

• See related article: 5 Things You Need To Know About Marijuana Legalization In NJ

Earlier this year, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal ordered state, county, and municipal prosecutors to immediately dismiss charges for any marijuana offense that is no longer illegal under state law.

Prior to the law’s passage, police were making about 30,000 marijuana-related arrests in New Jersey every year — among the most of any state in the nation, Garden State NORML reported.

In all, New Jersey spent about $147 million a year on the legal processing of marijuana possession, Gov. Phil Murphy has said.

The cost can run steep for people like Ahmad Reed, a New Jersey resident arrested for possessing eight bags of weed in 2015. Reed – a husband and father – said that he's struggled to find decent work ever since, at times working temporary jobs that pay as little as $40 a day.

"My ability to support my family has been shattered," Reed said. "It's hard to move forward."

• See related article: 'It's Hard To Move Forward,' NJ Father Arrested For Weed Says

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