I Need to See Your Papers

Well get load of this! The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) gave us permission to travel across the United States if you got the Certificate of Vaccine papers. Last time you needed “Real ID” from your driver license or a passport. What a way to control you now. You need permission to go here and there in a free country. Sounds like this happened before when Hitler’s people ruled Germany. Why don’t they just brand you like they do to cattle before they are getting slaughtered. Also, I am not a sports fan, but it is a shame when MLB, NFL and NBA put their nose into politics when they should stay out of politics. Let the fans enjoy watching their team play ball.

Orlando “Wildman” Perez 

Immigrants

Most folks who emigrate are very hard-working people who became a pleasant addition to our country yet there are always those who come there for the sole purpose of taking advantage of our system. Seems to me we’ve a plethora of home-grown types of those already. I propose that every able-bodied male and female immigrant between the ages of 18 and 35 be made to serve in the military for two years as a way of proving themselves. Illegal immigrants should be sent back from whence they came as they’ve already shown a disregard for the laws of the United States. We’ve enough moochers, thank  you!

The Honorable

Michael Rusznak

Prohibition Laws

Over a century ago America passed a Prohibition Law to ban the sale and consumption of alcohol and eliminate the evils of drink. But this assumption proved faulty, and this law was abolished. 

Decades ago, America passed the 1968 Gun Control Law. There were about 15,000 violent firearm deaths that year (suicides and murders). Over the next 25 years this number doubled. What was learned from this?

The October 2019 issue of ‘Discover’ magazine had a chart showing firearm death numbers. It did not link the figures to the economy or the politics of the times. If a law is passed to create a better society, but doesn’t work as promised, shouldn’t it be abolished? There was no mention of the link between SSRI Drugs and mass shootings.

More people are killed each year by motor vehicles than by firearms; what is being done about this? Speed limits could be reduced but would this be cost-effective?

Ronald A. Sobieraj

The Political Smoke and

Mirrors Behind Recreational Marijuana

Let’s set the record straight on recreational Cannabis. In November 2020, New Jersey and Perth Amboy voters alike, voted overwhelmingly to decriminalize cannabis and allow for its recreational use. The bill, which was co-sponsored by our Honorable Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez, was largely sold to the voters as a mechanism to correct the archaic classification of the drug that has been shown to have medical benefits, and whose prosecution has had a disparate and discriminatory impact on minorities, people of color and those living in urban areas. In that vein, the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act released those held on marijuana related charges and set up an “automatic expungement” process to wipe records clean for those with marijuana records.

For many, including the law’s co-sponsor Assemblywoman Lopez, the social justice argument seems to have been a means or façade to her own greater personal ends. In exchange for her sponsorship of the bill, Lopez’s husband and longtime Verizon lobbyist Sam Delgado was appointed to the prestigious NJ’s Cannabis Regulatory Commission without any expertise or qualifications for his appointment – this appointment pays the Assemblywoman’s husband a whopping $125,000.00 a year!! Besides being a conflict of interest for our legislator, it confirms the backroom dealings amongst party political insiders using a governmental Regulatory Commission which is tasked with shaping the culture of our community without considering their own personal agenda.

Interestingly, here in Perth Amboy, the party backed Mayor, his administration, and their political gadflies have twisted the conversation on recreational cannabis at recent council meetings by arguing for its medical benefits, ability to generate revenue for the community, and that allowing dispensaries will somehow correct the disparate impact marijuana prosecutions have had on residents in our community. These arguments are smoke and mirrors for their own political ends.

At this point, the medical benefits of marijuana are clearly established hence the passage of the Medical Marijuana Law and the subsequent expansion of conditions which it can treat. Those whom have been diagnosed and prescribed marijuana would not need these local dispensaries in order to get marijuana. They would have the same access to the marijuana that they had prior to the passage of the new law so this argument is moot.

Second, the ability for municipalities to generate revenue from dispensaries is pure speculation. There is no empirical data on how much would be generated from dispensaries but we know that the state would limit what portion of the revenue that would return to the municipality to 1% in the first year – hardly enough to justify the impact on the community or the cost to train police officers and regulate the day to day sale. Moreover, the state regulation on training and overseeing dispensaries has not even been codified to know what is involved. It seems to me that uncertainty of revenue and the socioeconomic impact outweighs the potential revenue from dispensaries.

Again let’s not forget that the intent of the law was social justice, not profiteering. Those who want marijuana could just grow it. The law allows for any person over the age of 21 to grow up to four plants at a time alleviating the need for local dispensaries until the kinks are worked out. Wasn’t the legislative intent behind the law social justice- not revenue for municipalities? How does potential revenue for a municipality equate to social justice?

In the same way, our Assemblywoman hid her intents to profit from the law. The party backed Caba Administration and their cronies are hiding their intentions to profit through dispensaries. It’s time to let them know that we are not ready for dispensaries before Perth Amboy is “Up in Smoke.”

Abel Paulino A.K.A

A.D. Pauro