New Jersey Makes $5.5M in Cannabis Revenues available to help victims of violent crime
New Jersey has made $5,5m in cannabis tax revenues available to support the state’s ‘Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program’.
The Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance and Marketplace Modernisation Fund, which was set up to reinvest cannabis revenues into initiatives helping communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis criminalisation, is now set to be used to fund the programme.
The fund uses a combination of money from legal sales taxes, industry fees and civil penalties.
According to a press release, the funds will be issued via a ‘competitive grant process’, with awards for this cycle set to begin in 2024.
The hospital-based violence intervention programme works to support victims of crime by connecting them with services outside of hospitals.
Teams of hospital clinicians, social workers, case managers, violence interventionists, and community health workers offer support during the immediate aftermath of a violent crime, providing everything from crisis intervention to victim compensation and mental health support.
“Through the New Jersey Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program, our Administration is making progress on our commitment to creating a safer state for all New Jerseyans,” said Governor Phil Murphy.
“These innovative violence intervention programs allow providers to tend to vulnerable victims of violent crimes in the early days of their road to recovery in order to break the patterns of violence that have tragically taken the lives of too many New Jerseyans. We will continue to do what we can to support this work to prevent and overcome violence in our communities across the state.”
In August, Governor Murphy and State Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced that the cannabis fund would also be used to cover a large part of a separate $15m grant programme aiming to prevent violent crime.
