Travel Writer Rick Steves to Hold News Conference in Support of Ending Marijuana Prohibition in New Jersey

On Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., Steves will join the Marijuana Policy Project to promote legislation to regulate marijuana for adults as lawmakers begin to address the issue

PRINCETON, N.J. — Travel guru Rick Steves will visit New Jersey on Wednesday as part of a regional tour to advocate for making marijuana legal for adults. Steves will join Kate Bell of the Marijuana Policy Project for a news conference on Wednesday afternoon to discuss why New Jersey lawmakers should support regulating and taxing marijuana. The event is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET in the Yale Room of the Hyatt Regency Princeton.

“I believe New Jersey deserves the civil liberty to enjoy the mature, adult use of marijuana like my state, Washington, and many others have,” said Rick Steves. “In states like Washington we now have a track record after years of the legal sale of recreational cannabis: adult use stays about the same, teen use does not go up, DUIs don’t go up, crime doesn’t go up. What goes up is tax revenue. Rather than needlessly arresting thousands of people each year, in Washington we have taken a thriving illicit market and made it a highly regulated and taxed legal market which generates more than $300 million dollars of tax revenue each year.”

New Jersey is poised to become one of the next states to make marijuana legal for adults. Gov. Phil Murphy campaigned on his support for regulating marijuana and pledged to do so within his first 100 days in office. On Thursday, Chairman Joseph Danielson of the Assembly Regulatory Oversight and Reform and Federal Relations Committee announced a hearing on marijuana legalization on March 5.

“The prohibition of marijuana is unjust, racist, costly, and creates a thriving black market that enriches gangs and organized crime,” Steves continued. “A clear majority of New Jersey residents want to make it legal for adults to possess, grow, and purchase limited amounts of cannabis. There are many good reasons for the state legislature to support this policy.”

Steves will also be available for interviews on Wednesday afternoon immediately following the news conference. Please contact Kate Bell at 443-986-1914 or kbell@mpp.org to schedule a conversation if you cannot attend.

WHAT: News conference featuring travel writer Rick Steves in support of regulating and taxing marijuana for adult use

WHEN: Wednesday, February 14, at 3:30 p.m. ET

WHERE: Hyatt Regency Princeton, Yale Room, 102 Carnegie Center, Princeton

WHO: Rick Steves
Kate Bell, Marijuana Policy Project
Additional members of New Jersey United for Marijuana Reform

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The Marijuana Policy Project is the nation’s largest marijuana policy organization. For more information, visit http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.org.