Ronald Rice, one of Newark's state senators, has written to New Jersey's top lawmakers urging a racial impact study on the legalization of marijuana.
He reminded them that the issue only went to a referendum because a majority in Trenton could not support it, and pointed out that he co-sponsored a bill to decriminalize weed three years ago that went nowhere.
He said there is more enthusiasm for legalization because of the money it will bring into the state.
He noted that statistics show Black and brown people are arrested at three to four times the rate of whites for possession of small amounts of marijuana.