NJ state lawmaker warns of ‘sex toys and oils with marijuana’ if recreational cannabis is legalized

A New Jersey state senator is warning against products with marijuana, such as “sex toys and oils,” that could be sold if the state decides to legalize recreational use of the substance.

State Sen. Ronald Rice (D) told NJTV this week that he believes marijuana is a gateway drug and claimed that when recreational marijuana is legalized, “the number of people who’ve never used any type of drugs goes up substantially in terms of drug use.”

“If in fact we legalize recreational marijuana, right across the street from my office they’re going to put up stores,” Rice told the outlet. “They want to call them dispensaries, but they’re going to be stores that do retail selling cupcakes with marijuana, candies with marijuana, sex toys and oils with marijuana, lipsticks with marijuana, all those kinds of products that kids can get and people can get.”

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Rice has long opposed marijuana legalization and is the leader of New Jersey’s Legislative Black Caucus, which has similarly held up efforts to legalize the drug, according to NJTV.

The New Jersey legislature is currently debating a recreational marijuana bill introduced by state Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D) last month, NJ.com reported.

The state is debating various ways to handle the proposal.

Assemblyman Jamel Holley (D), who was part of a state delegation that traveled to Colorado to examine the state’s marijuana legalization laws, is pushing for amendments to be added to the bill that would remove limits on the number of dispensaries and add plans for tax revenue from cannabis sales and mandatory social equity.

He told NJTV that he will not support a marijuana legalization bill “unless there’s language in there to support expungement.”

“There’s individuals who look like me, and those individuals who do not look like me, that are incarcerated for little, small portions of marijuana,” Holley said.