New NJ law says cops can’t notify parents when minor is caught with marijuana or alcohol in first offense

Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

Democrats are unyielding in their quest for a permissive society where there is little if any personal responsibility.

Nowhere is this more apparent than their preferred policies on the killing of unborn babies, and amid the current marijuana craze liberal politicians are borrowing from that campaign to mainstream weed.

Just as Democrats pursued laws allowing minors to have an abortion without telling their parents, New Jersey has legalized the consumption of marijuana, in all its forms, on private property and enacted a law restricting law enforcement from notifying the parents of minors who are caught with possession of weed or alcohol.

The most remarkable thing here being, perhaps, that tens of millions of Americans continue to support the party that pushes these destructive laws.

Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, signed a law last month that allows residents to carry up to 6 oz. of marijuana — that’s well over a third of a pound. The national average is reportedly $265 for an ounce of weed.

The new law prohibits police officers from notifying parents when a minor is caught by police with marijuana or alcohol if it’s the child’s first incident, Fox News reported.

So much for nipping a problem in the bud.

Law enforcement can notify parents after the first reported incident, but there is not a process in place to confirm if there have been any prior incidents.

“There is no data system that allows for the warnings to be memorialized, and then go to a centralized data bank. There’s no way to track this,” Sayerville Township Chief of Police John Zebrowski told Fox News.

The new law went into effect on Feb. 22, and Zebrowski explained the process an officer would follow prior to this.

“You would take possession of the contraband, there would be a notification to that child’s parents, and there would be a sit-down discussion afterward as to how we can assist, what programs would be available, and usually something called a stationhouse paperwork would be completed memorializing the interaction,” he said.

A frustrated Republican state Sen.-elect Holly Schepisi echoed that same sentiment about there being no tracking mechanism.

“The only way a parent would get notified is pretty much if a police officer in the same community picks up the same kid multiple times,” she said.

“If your 12-year-old child got caught smoking pot and drinking a six-pack in your local park, the local police have no ability to do anything and are prohibited from notifying a minor’s parents,” Schepisi explained.

Fox News noted that Kevin Sabet, who served as White House drug adviser to three U.S. presidents — Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and George Bush —  has concerns about how the new law will impact the mental and physical wellbeing of children.

“We know that marijuana has a potential to reduce your IQ by 8 points,” Sabet said. “I’m really worried about how this is going to affect not only the physical health, not only the academic achievement, because we also see lower test scores and more dropout rates among marijuana-using kids.”

He would add, “We haven’t seen any state that doesn’t have parent notification for minors.”

Republican State Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick has proposed a new bill addressing how police can notify parents of underage substance possession, the article reported.

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:

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